WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?

Keith Dekker brings up a good point in his letter "Sentences should be
just" (April 2). The comparison I like to use is between Charles
Lynch's case and the pending case of the San Luis Obispo County
sheriff deputy arrested by the FBI for child pornography.

? Both cases involve arresting federal agents, both involve Sheriff
Hedges to some degree, and both include nonviolent crimes, though
kiddy porn is damaging to kids who are victimized: Where's Sheriff
Hedges when you need someone to stand up for the kids and a community
that prides itself on family values? ? Lynch is free on $400,000 bail
that his family posted with their own money and their own property. To
put that amount into perspective, that figure is just shy of what the
Drug Enforcement Administration has admitted to the U.S. House
Judiciary Committee it has spent on medical marijuana raids in the
last few years. The DEA figure does not include salaries, training, or
equipment, but does include the raid and arrest of Charles Lynch. The
sheriff's deputy accused of child pornography is out on $5,000 bail.

The sentencing guidelines for Lynch range from five to 100 years, plus
four years of probation once he gets out of prison. The sheriff's
deputy faces up to 10 years in federal prison and most likely will get
far less.

? I believe Lynch was raided, arrested, and convicted because a former
employee allegedly sold marijuana to an undercover, paid criminal
informant in front of an undercover SLO County sheriff's narcotics
deputy, at least 12 miles from the medical cannabis facility, in a
parking lot of a Big 5 sporting goods store. How come Sheriff Hedges
hasn't been arrested on kiddy porn charges yet? I mean, if Lynch is
going to be held accountable for an employee's actions away from work,
shouldn't Hedges be held to the same responsibility??

One thing I learned by witnessing Lynch's federal trial is the Justice
Department needs to change its name to the Department of Injustice.

Cheryl Aichele

Los Angeles