The weekly "Roses and Thorns" section in the Springfield News-Leader's editorial section offers a rose to St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Michael Dawson for having Jasper County Presiding Commissioner Chuck Surface serve shock time after Surface pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated.
Though the newspaper mistakenly referred to Dawson as a Jasper County judge, it is still good to know it is keeping any eye on events in this area of the state. The News-Leader's take:
Surface pleaded guilty Wednesday to a DWI and rather than sentencing Surface to "shock detention" — a common sentence for first-time offenders, Dawson chose to send Surface to jail for two days to "demonstrate the seriousness of driving while intoxicated." Good for him.
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But is this really an accurate reading of what took place?
According to "The Joplin Globe" story, Surface willingly took the 48 hours incarceration in order to have the conviction removed from his record after a period of years.
He could have done no time at all. He chose this option (which, I wonder, is offered to all first offenders?
So this high praise, unless qualified, was evidently misintepreted by the Springfield paper.
Also, I thought "The Globe" did a terrible job of letting the reader know whether Surface was given special treatment or preferred treatment. Their story didn't cover this aspect of things: As usual, it was incomplete for reasons one can only guess at.
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