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A convicted rapist has been sentenced to life in prison for spitting on a police officer.

Creek County Associate District Judge April Sellers White followed the recommendation of a jury for the maximum sentence against John C. Marquez under a law that makes it a felony to place bodily fluids on law enforcement officers.
White rejected a prosecution request for a 25-year prison term and a defense request for a four-year term.

Following sentencing Monday, Marquez's attorney, Jason Serner, promised an appeal to the state Court of Criminal Appeals. No appeal had been filed by Thursday.

Marquez, 35, was convicted of hurling body fluids on Sapulpa Officer Charles Gadd while Gadd was taking Marquez to jail following a domestic disturbance in which a woman's arm was broken.

The 1996 state law that makes it a felony to place bodily fluids on law enforcement officers was enacted amid concerns that deadly diseases, such as AIDS, could be transmitted this way.

Gadd told the jury that Marquez spit on him despite being warned and then bit him when Gadd was trying to prevent Marquez from spitting again.

Gadd and Marquez tested negative for any communicable diseases.

The jury took 15 minutes on May 14 to recommend the life sentence. Marquez's prior felony convictions, including rape and burglary, were taken into consideration in determining the sentence.

In addition to the life term, Marquez received one year in jail and a $3,000 fine for his conviction for domestic assault and a $500 fine for resisting a peace officer.

Telephone calls to the judge, the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney were not returned Thursday.

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Damn he got off lightly.

he got what he deserved
unfortunately this series of events leads me to be believe this can happen to anyone
someone must examine what has happend and determine what has gone wrong

sort of sounds a little steep, I mean, I understand the concern. But, if you don't have anything, then...I think that should be taken into concideration. Doesn't seem to comply with the "cruel and just punishment" thing in my book.

He was sentenced under a "three strikes" law- prior convictions for rape and burglary (and probably other stuff) - and he did break someone's arm in the related incident

judge had probably seen him a lot and gave him the "Mad Dog" sentence -

well unfortunatly that 3 strikes law is sound in some ways but unsound in others

see some prosecuters might ignore small crimes such as petty theft and or an assault where no one was seriously hurt because then they would be sending people to die in jail

also some peoples crimes may not warrent life in prison

on the other hand the scum is off the street permanently

i never understood the point in giving someone life, its pretty much saying they will die in jail... so why not just kill them, save the money, save the hassle, and get the moron out of the system completely...

Originally posted by xsiled
i never understood the point in giving someone life, its pretty much saying they will die in jail... so why not just kill them, save the money, save the hassle, and get the moron out of the system completely...

gonna have to agree with u on that
we could just electricude them and......well organ donations.....

but before that happens we will have to speed up appelate cases by far
im not willing to let them sit for 6 years for an appeal

the world would be a better place if libertarians ruled it.

Because "life" is RARELY life without chance of parole (unless you're Jeffery Dalmer or something).

REALISTICALLY the guy could be out in, oh I dunno, 20 years on good behavior.

Ironically, it costs the state MORE to sentence someone to death than give them life, believe it or not.

Tremendous amount of court costs involved, salaries of States Attorneys office personnel, public defenders fees (since these guys can rarely afford their own defense), accounting, the cost of housing a death-row inmate for 10 - 12 years (average time before appeals run out and the sentence is carried out) - it's VERY expensive to house death-row inmates (isolated from regular prison community, heavier security because they have nothing to lose, constant suicide watch, etc).

They sat down and added it all up and found out it's CHEAPER to give them life. Go figure.

ANYWAY, I'm no legal pundit, but it seems to me that sentence is open to somekind of appeal since the judge even overruled the recommended sentence of the States Attorney's office.

It IS a bit extreme. 25 years I think would be enough, unless they could prove the guy KNOWINGLY had AIDS (in which case it could be treated as attempted murder).

why would u possibly want suicide watch?
i mean this is the scum of the earth i would leave them with the rest of the inmates
and they proved the supermax prison costs a quarter of what other prisons cost
cuz only like 20 people actually work their

that just means that the sequencing for a death sentance needs to be improved.

how much does a box of .22 cost anyway...

LOL!

no no we need something less dangerous but more dramatic

like a .17 to the head at point blank range

Hey, I'm not defending it. I agree, give him a rope and let him hang himself.

However, as you are well aware, a civilized society won't do that.

So we provide suicide watch, and they can't mix with the rest of the prison community because a guy on death row has nothing to lose. He'll kill someone else for fun (be it another inmate, or a prison guard).

On one level you might say "So what?" they're all bad people.

Well yeah, but some aren't as bad as others. Does a guy sentenced for manslaughter for 5 years because he killed someone while driving drunk, and doesn't even remember doing it (could be you or me) really deserve to get knifed to death by a guy on death row?

We can bitch about the system all we want, but it's designed to protect everyone. My brother was in the state pen for 5 years for aggravated assault and robbery (3 time loser - first two were for grand theft auto but he got remanded sentences for both and never did hard time). I don't much get along with him, and he's and asshole, but I'm happy he got through it without getting ass-raped or stabbed.

Just hope it scared his ass straight.

naw man, im tired of this civility crap, we need to crack down on the problems in this country.

crime and imigration.