You don’t need to be a sociologist or criminal justice expert to recognize that not all Americans are treated equally in courts. Beliefs and judgments include factors such as race, economics, and politics.
Lawmakers are not exempt from contradictions in treatment.
Witness the gap between two former Tennessee senators, Memphis Democrat Katrina Robinson and Germantown Republican Brian Kelsey.
Robinson in 2020 Condemned federal prosecutors of Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection with businesses established to train certified nursing assistants, competent nurses, and licensed practical nurses.
Government lawyers alleged she stole about $600,000 from the business to improve her own trips, wedding costs and households. The federal government has launched an investigation based on anonymous hints that Robinson used money from her healthcare business to buy a Louis Vuitton handbag for $550 two years before the election.
Robinson pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty in 2021 of four wire frauds, four wire frauds (two vacated by federal judges) with misappropriate funds worth $3,500. She was fined $46,800 by the court, and a Republican colleague voted to banish her from the Senate.
Kelsey, first elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2004, rose to the Senate in 2009 when a seat in District 31 became vacant by resignation. He served on the Senate Judiciary Committee and later served as chairman.
In 2016, Kelsey ran for the US Congress in Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District, finishing fourth in the Republican primary, but federal prosecutors said he didn’t give the race everything and some.
They alleged that Kelsey moved $90,000 from his state campaign account to his Congress account, a violation of the federal campaign finance law. He gave Josh Smith, the owner of the Private Nashville Club, which is frequently visited by Republican lawmakers, $106,000, according to the charges imposed against Kelsey. Smith filtered money into the political action group where Kelsey’s future wife worked to support Kelsey’s campaign.
In 2022, Kelsey pleaded guilty to two charges, including “conspiracy to fraud the United States,” and was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
Let’s admit that both Robinson and Kelsey were accused of engaging in illegal activities. Robinson concentrates funds from federal grants for her personal use, and Kelsey changes money to end the federal government’s campaign finance law.
We can split hair that is said to have misused more money and split who was in the office that was elected at the time of their violation, but let’s stick to the outcome.
Clearly, the number and size of Robinson’s charges fell from what was originally filed, but she lost her Senate seat and paid a substantial fine in the process.
In contrast, Kelsey only served his sentence for two weeks. Shortly after his guilty plea in November 2022, he tried to return the results.
The judge says former Senator Brian Kelsey cannot regain his guilty plea
He tried to reclaim the guilty plea that federal judge Waverly Crenshaw had said, and I paraphrased, there was no takeaway. Kelsey a Senate Judiciary lawyer and sitting chairperson, claimed he was tired because his wife had given birth to twins.
He fired one team of lawyers and threatened to sue them. He lost his sentence. Appeal filed. I asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal. As several Politicos in Tennessee pointed out, by the time he delayed his sentence, he could have served his sentence and continued his life.
It appears Kelsey came on February 25th at the end of his legal path. He reported to FCI Ashland in Kentucky to begin serving his sentence.
On March 11th, President Donald Trump forgives Kelsey.
In a press release from Fulsam, Kelsey said, “God saved me from Biden Dozi, who was weaponized with Donald Trump.”
“This understanding of injustice, born from his own experience of (Trump) law, restored my freedom and reaffirmed my belief in true leadership. I am not the only one who is being pardoned.
If the former presidential pardon, a former lawmaker who pleaded guilty to the action that Joe Biden took office a few years before he was elected president, constitutes a “fair system for all,” then you might wonder why Trump didn’t forgive Robinson.
In this example, partisan politics is the most likely factor in the disparity with the treatment of two Shelby County Polls.
Even if you reasonably consider the control of the law to be questionable, it is frankly defeated to know that someone from an experienced legal background admitting misconduct can simply change their minds and walk in a small number, as Kelsey did.
Get the morning heading.
