In Prison For 1,000 Years! For What?!
Born to be bad.
“His Crimes”
Arthur O’Derrell Franklin is in prison for a long time. He was sent to prison for hurting and attacking three women in 1983. He is guilty of kidnapping, armed kidnapping, sexual battery, armed sexual battery, robbery, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. He was 17 years old at that time. The court gave him three sentences of 1,000 years each. A sentence is a punishment for a crime.
He told his mother that he didn’t like dinner. She sentenced him to washing the dishes - for life!
“But, I’m Just A Baby.”
In 2010, a new law said that young people who do not kill cannot get life in prison without parole. This means they should have a chance to leave if they change and become better. Franklin’s lawyers said he should get a new trial because he was young when he committed the crimes. When you commit something, you do it. You make it happen. If you commit an error, you cause the error to happen.
Waldo knows he could never commit a crime—he’s too lazy to run from the cops.
“Nothing New Here”
The Florida Supreme Court said Franklin does not need a new trial. The word trial here is when a court decides if someone is guilty of a crime or not. They said he can ask for parole in the future. But Franklin can only ask for parole in the year 2352. In other words, 327 years from the year 2025. That is a very long time from now!
Emily’s lawyer told her to wear her best clothes to her trial but all she had was an orange prison suit.
“A Different Point Of View”
Some judges did not agree with this decision. In this sentence a judge is the person who is in control in a court of law. They said the parole system should check if Franklin has really changed. They think the court should look at his case again to see if he should get a chance to leave prison.
The judges laughed when they said order in the court and I said yes I’d like a double cheese burger, a large fries and a chocolate milkshake.
“The More Things Change, The More…”
Franklin has already been in prison for more than 30 years. He is now 53 years old. His punishment is still the same, and he cannot leave prison for hundreds of years. A punishment is a way of causing someone to feel bad for something they did wrong.
The best punishment for your brother or sister is to change the wifi password, and don’t tell them.
“Bonus: Today’s Idiom”
For my more advanced readers, tell me what you think about this story in the comments below. Do you think that Author should be given a “get out of jail free card” or should he stay in prison until he dies? Remember to use at least one of the vocabulary words you learned above.
