- 7 months ago
Justice isn't always served. Join us as we examine some of the most controversial criminal cases where perpetrators received surprisingly light sentences or managed to avoid proper punishment altogether. From wealthy heirs to serial killers, these cases shocked the public and highlighted significant flaws in various legal systems.
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00:00Why did this absurd, obscene plea bargain occur?
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at 10 criminals who got frustratingly lenient sentences despite their horrible crimes.
00:12A free man with an ongoing appetite for human flesh.
00:18Brock Turner.
00:20You've got a guilty verdict, which is great, and then the sentence? Six months? Come on.
00:25People v. Turner is regarded as one of the great injustices of the 21st century, and for good reason.
00:31The story dates back to January 2015, when Stanford student Brock Turner was caught with the unconscious Chanel Miller.
00:37Two grad students intervened and held Turner until police arrived, and he was convicted on three felony charges related to sexual assault.
00:44Despite facing a maximum sentence of 14 years, Judge Aaron Persky went exceptionally easy on Turner and sentenced him to just six months.
00:52To make matters even worse, Turner was out in three for good behavior.
00:56He was originally sentenced to about six months here in California.
01:01That means three months because of good behavior policies, and he was looking at the potential for 14 years.
01:07The judge, when he made his decision to sentence him to six months, also came under a lot of fire internationally, really.
01:15The sentence sparked widespread outrage, with many believing that Turner got off owing to his race and upper-class status.
01:21In retaliation, voters recalled or fired Judge Persky in 2018.
01:26Tonight, we're just getting word that the controversial judge in the Brock Turner case has a new job.
01:33Aaron Persky is now a tennis coach at Lindbrook High School in San Jose.
01:38Jeffrey Epstein.
01:40In an unusual plea deal 10 years ago, Epstein only served 13 months in jail.
01:45The civil trial between the two men was likely to bring out details of the allegations against Epstein and may have implicated some famous names in Epstein's circle.
01:54While Epstein is widely known for his 2019 arrest and subsequent death, he was also the source of a major controversy in the mid-2000s.
02:02Back in 2005, Epstein was the focus of a major police investigation after reports that he was repeatedly committing sexual abuse at his Palm Beach mansion.
02:11The FBI ultimately identified 36 victims that were targeted by Epstein.
02:16All right, Bradley Edwards says he's now waiting on a federal judge to rule on his request to toss out that plea agreement that Epstein made over 10 years ago.
02:24If that happens, it could open up the door to a whole new prosecution case and even more courtroom drama.
02:30However, he avoided federal charges by striking a plea deal that was approved by U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta.
02:36Epstein was sentenced to just 18 months and was granted a work release program, allowing him to leave the jail for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.
02:45He was ultimately released after serving just 13 months.
02:48In Washington, New York's senior senator Chuck Schumer is still asking questions about the Florida plea deal approved by former U.S. attorney in Miami Alexander Acosta.
02:57Robert Durst.
02:58At the end of his life, Robert Durst was in failing health and serving a life without parole sentence for murder, having plenty of time to perhaps wonder how he got away with it all for so long.
03:08Heir to a real estate empire, Robert Durst was likely responsible for murdering his wife, Kathleen McCormick, in 1982.
03:15Then, in 2000, he murdered his longtime friend, Susan Berman, supposedly because she was about to speak to police about Kathleen's disappearance.
03:22The next year, he killed and dismembered a man named Morris Black, though he was later acquitted after claiming self-defense.
03:29The fact that Morris Black had been murdered in Galveston was not something that would have garnered any attention at our end.
03:36It was only when they made the connection to Robert Durst.
03:39Durst avoided prosecution for years and seemed to get away with all three crimes.
03:43For a while, it wasn't until the jinx in 2015 that his case received widespread attention and ignited further scrutiny.
03:50Durst was ultimately convicted of Berman's murder in 2021 and sentenced to life, but by then, he was already 78 years old.
03:58He died about four months after his conviction.
04:00Friedrich Flick
04:15Simple engineering goal, wouldn't you think?
04:18Change the machines around.
04:19Whatever you do, you can make other things, couldn't you?
04:22Field kits.
04:23Mess kits.
04:25Army contracts.
04:26A German industrialist, Friedrich Flick was deeply involved in the Nazi war economy and was complicit in a number of war crimes through his industrial activity.
04:35Flick was a major financial contributor to the Nazi party, plundered and seized a number of industries in occupied territories,
04:41and utilized tens of thousands of forced laborers, many of whom were subjected to inhumane conditions.
04:47He was ultimately tried at Nuremberg and was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, receiving seven years in prison.
04:54He served only three, and was released in 1950, whereupon he rebuilt his fortune, was awarded numerous honors, and resumed his enormous influence in German business.
05:05He ultimately died in 1972 as one of the wealthiest men in West Germany.
05:10Money still money.
05:14No, it is not.
05:17William Calley
05:18The whole bit, everything that could aid the VC, you know, every living thing, that was sort of like the order.
05:23The United States committed an infamous war crime on March 16, 1968, when Army soldiers slaughtered hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in the village of Sun Mi.
05:33William Calley led 1st Platoon and C Company into the village, and was the only soldier convicted, being found guilty of the premeditated murder of 22 unarmed villagers.
05:43He was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor, but Richard Nixon personally intervened and ordered his release from prison pending appeal.
05:50Further military appeals and staunch political pressure reduced his life sentence to house arrest, of which he served just three years.
05:57He led a quiet life after his release, and died in 2024 at the age of 80.
06:02After hearing this account, I couldn't quite accept it.
06:05Somehow, I just couldn't believe that not only had so many young American men participated in such an act of barbarism, but that their officers had ordered it.
06:13Courtney Hackney
06:15In May 2017, Courtney Hackney was in the home of Holly Barnett when she bludgeoned her to death with a baseball bat.
06:30Hackney was brought up on murder charges, but her first case ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
06:36A retrial was scheduled, but a key witness became unavailable, prompting prosecutors to dismiss the charges with the intention of refiling them later.
06:45However, because the charges were voluntarily dismissed, and because Hackney had not legally consented to a retrial,
06:51Double Jeopardy protections barred prosecutors from refiling the charges.
06:55As a result, the case was permanently dismissed, and Hackney was allowed to walk free.
07:00What if she's lying? We need time to reinvestigate.
07:02I just want to mistrial so you can try my client again. That's Double Jeopardy, Your Honor.
07:06It's Novak. I'm sorry. I cannot grant a mistrial.
07:12Carla Homolka
07:12She was released from prison in 2005. Since then, she's kept a low profile, going by the name Leanne Thiel.
07:20And for the past two years, she has reportedly lived in this suburb south of Montreal with her husband and their three children.
07:26In the 1990s, Carla Homolka was involved with her then-husband, Paul Bernardo, in the deaths of three young women.
07:32Two of them, Leslie Mahaffey and Kristen French, were kidnapped and murdered.
07:36The third was Homolka's own sister, Tammy, whom Homolka and Bernardo drugged and assaulted.
07:42She eventually died by choking on her own vomit.
07:45What?
07:48Oh my god, she's not breathing!
07:50Following their arrest, Homolka was offered a highly controversial plea deal in exchange for testifying against Bernardo.
07:56The Canadian public referred to this as the deal with the devil, because the full extent of her involvement had not been known when the agreement was drawn up.
08:04In the end, Homolka served just 12 years and was allowed to walk free, where she then moved to Montreal and started a family.
08:11When Homolka was released, she had served her full sentence. She was free to start a new life and choose where she wanted to live.
08:18Like it or not, she has the right to live her life like any other person, without being subject to threats and harassment.
08:25Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam
08:27On August 28th, 1955, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam committed one of the most infamous hate crimes in American history.
08:47That's when they abducted Emmett Till, a black teenager from his great-uncle's home, allegedly because Till had whistled at and flirted with Bryant's white wife.
08:56They savagely beat Till, shot him in the head, and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River.
09:01Bo's body was found in a river. Preacher just identified him to the sheriff.
09:06He recognized the ring Bo was wearing.
09:10His mangled and unrecognizable body was found three days later.
09:15Bryant and Milam were arrested and charged with Till's murder.
09:17But despite overwhelming evidence, like openly admitting that they took Till from the house, the all-white and all-male jury acquitted both.
09:26They later admitted to murdering Till, but they were protected by double jeopardy and never faced legal repercussions.
09:31I know what the verdict is.
09:37After deliberating for about an hour, the jury has just come back with a verdict of not guilty.
09:44Thus, the defendant, Millam and Bryant, are free men.
09:48Issei Sagawa
09:48Honestly, we were shocked to see him released so quickly.
09:52It was the miscarriage of justice.
09:54On June 11, 1981, Japanese student Issei Sagawa murdered his classmate Renée Hartevelt and cannibalized parts of her body.
10:03A French judge found Sagawa legally insane and unfit to stand trial, and he was committed to a mental health facility.
10:09But in 1984, Sagawa was deported to Japan.
10:12And because the charges against Sagawa were dropped in France, they were unable to send the sealed court documents to Japan.
10:20When he arrived in Japan, he was a free person.
10:22Because in Japan, he had not committed any crime.
10:24As such, Japanese prosecutors lacked the evidence needed to press charges.
10:28After just 15 months in Japanese custody, Sagawa was declared sane and released.
10:34He proceeded to live his life as a free man, and even profited off his crime by writing books, appearing in films, and granting interviews.
10:41No attempt has been made to monitor the cannibalistic urges Sagawa still appears to have.
10:46Free to roam amongst Tokyo's 12 million residents.
10:50It is a freedom that has been harshly criticized.
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11:07One of history's most prolific serial killers could be out there right now, freely walking the streets after serving his time in prison.
11:23That man is Pedro Lopez, or the monster of the Andes, who murdered at least 110 people between 1969 and 1980.
11:31And while he was convicted of 110 murders, Lopez personally confessed to killing over 300.
11:37If Lopez was telling the truth, he'd rank among the most prolific serial killers in history.
11:43Ecuador does not impose life sentences, and in 1980, the maximum was 16 years.
11:49So, that's what Lopez got.
11:51Even worse, he was released two years early for good behavior.
11:55So, 14 years for murdering 110 people.
11:59He was later placed in a Colombian mental health facility, but was released for good in 1998 after being found sane.
12:05He subsequently disappeared and has never been seen since.
12:09He went back into the countryside he knew so well, to the killing ground where he had found so many victims.
12:17That was the last time anyone reported seeing Pedro Alonso Lopez.
12:23What do you make of these injustices?
12:24Let us know in the comments below.
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