We, unfortunately, live in a world where not everyone is treated equally and justice isn’t always served.
Some say that our court and prisons systems mainly exist as a means to make profits.
The good news is that when Americans exercise their voting power in local elections, they have the power to alter injustices and affect change.
That’s what voters in Anchorage, Alaska did after a judge approved a controversial plea agreement.
Instead of sentencing Justin Schneider, a former air-traffic controller, to serve jail time for kidnapping an Alaskan Native woman, choking her until she was unconscious, and then masturbating on her, he gave him a “free pass.”
The 33-year-old husband and father was charged with one count of felony kidnapping, three counts of assault, and a misdemeanor account of harassment involving “offensive contact with fluids,” according to the Washington Post.
Judge Michael Corey approved a plea deal that would have Schneider plead guilty to one count of second-degree felony assault in exchange for the other charges being dismissed.
Schneider was sentenced to two years in prison with one year suspended and credit given for a year he spent under house arrest.
Anchorage Assistant District Attorney Andrew Grannik said he presented the plea deal to grant Schneider “one pass” since he believed that Schneider would not be a repeat offender.
Many were completely outraged that Corey approved the plea. So much so that siblings Elizabeth and Issac Williams started the “No More Passes Vote No on Judge Michael Corey” campaign to try and oust Corey from his judicial seat.
The campaign raised money and aired radios ads saying Corey “chose to let a violent sexual offender walk free—without so much as a mention of the woman he strangled unconscious and defiled,” the Anchorage Daily News reports.
Their efforts also brought attention to the disproportionate amount of abuse Native Alaskan women face. A Native Alaskan woman is sexually assaulted every 18 hours and one in two of these women experience physical or sexual violence in their life, according to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
The campaign’s efforts are believed to be a major factor in Corey losing his seat.
It was the first time in state history that a judge was voted out as a result of a popular grassroots uprising and that an Alaskan judge lost their job based on public anger over a judicial decision the Anchorage Daily News reports.
Those who were in support of Corey stated that voting a judge out of office based on a single decision set a dangerous precedent that could force other judges to rule based on how they believe the public will react rather than the law.
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