Last week, a grand jury indicted Mashon Wilson for leaving the scene of the 2018 accident on County Line Road in Lakewood that killed Yechiel Feingold z”l, and for causing a death while driving with a suspended license.
This isn’t the first time Wilson has been in trouble with the law.
Just the week prior to his most recent charge, he was arrested for stealing from Bnos Yisroel Elementary School.
And that wasn’t his only burglary either.
Going back to 2014, Mr. Wilson has been arrested more than a dozen times, mostly for stealing. He was arrested in February of this year; in 2019, he was arrested six times. And he was arrested another six times before 2019, equaling a staggering 13 arrests in five years, according to public records.
What is notable is that Mashon Wilson has seemingly become more brazen. While he had arrests here and there from 2014 through 2018, the number of his arrests skyrocketed in 2019. Whereas prison time usually teaches offenders to clean up their act, Mashon Wilson has apparently learned the exact opposite.
That leaves wondering why prosecutors and judges don’t seem to see what’s going on. Time after time, burglary after burglary, Mr. Wilson is released back onto the streets of Lakewood to do more damage to people’s homes, businesses, and hard-earned personal items. At what point do prosecutors and a judge say enough is enough?
I am all for second chances. People make mistakes and do stupid things on the spur of the moment. A one-time burglary offense should not result in a life sentence for anyone. Even two burglaries, while more serious, shouldn’t result in an individual being locked up for long periods of time. But it reaches a point where releasing a criminal becomes untenable.
Much of this can be blamed on New Jersey’s relatively new bail reform laws. The Bail Reform and Speedy Trial Act, which went into effect in 2017, and aimed to lower county expenses by eliminating bail in most criminal cases. Instead of bail, judges use a safety assessment score to determine whether they should allow a suspect back into the public before facing trial.
When an individual is arrested numerous times for burglary and on top of that is charged over his involvement that resulted in a young man’s death, there is a whole new level of responsibility and justice that person should be on the receiving end of.
Courts and legal policies in NJ have become much too liberal. Often, individual rights are asserted over the best interests of the general population.
I think the family of the person killed should sue the judge personally for letting this animal be on the streets the only way the judge will use the common sense and not let such an animal out is if we make him financially responsible in such an outright case of 13 arrests and many of these arrest charged with multiple offenses
lockhimup,
There’s something called Government Immunity. Basically, you can’t sue a Judge because you don’t like their decision. Even if that decision leads to a person’s death, you still can’t sue. Such is life.