FL: travesty

William Thornton IV, age 18, was accused of two counts of vehicular manslaughter. His public defender Eric Evilsizer, (good Dickensian name, that one) persuaded him to plead no contest straight-up and throw himself on the mercy of the court.

It was the court of the same judge who'd sentenced Thornton's father to thirty years. The son's sentence: thirty years as well. The St. Pete paper calls on the Public Defenders Office to "focus all of its energies on trying to correct a grave injustice that it helped to create for its client."

It is also abundantly clear that the legal system, particularly the Public Defenders Office, failed Thornton. Now is the time for the judge, prosecutors and defenders to do what is necessary to right this wrong and to bring belated justice to this case.

The paper reports elsewhere:

Evilsizer has since resigned from the office to go into private practice. He has said his departure was unrelated to the case and has declined to comment on the specifics of the case.

Thornton's case caused controversy when Dale Merrill, the public defender assigned to the case, suggested the judge's decision may have sprung from racial bias and prejudice. Thornton, who is black, was given the maximum sentenced allowed under state law.

Shortly after Merrill said that, the chief public defender added David Norris to the case. Norris is a p.d. with a a 1994 conviction for cocaine possession. For Thorton's defense team, this apparently is seen as "things looking up."