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What happened was a display of arrogance and entitlement that frankly disgusts me.
I have been doing this too long to pretend that a slap on the wrist is going to change that attitude.
Sometimes people need to face real consequences to understand that their actions matter.
I want to say something to the parents watching this case.
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Whether you are here in Providence, watching on YouTube or reading the journal tomorrow, please teach your children that everyone deserves respect.
Teach them that police officers are people doing a difficult job.
Teach them that money and status don’t make you better than anyone else.
Because if you don’t teach them these lessons, if you let them grow up thinking they are above it all, you are failing them.
You are setting them up for a very hard fall.
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And when that fall comes, when they are standing in a courtroom like this one facing a judge like me, it is going to be too late to undo years of bad lessons.
I don’t know what kind of parenting led to Madison’s behavior.
And I am not here to judge Robert and Patricia Thornton’s parenting.
But I will say this, if my child had behaved the way this defendant did, if they had spoken to officer Martinez that way, I would be ashamed.
I would be heartbroken.
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And I would absolutely support any consequence that might help them become a better person.
Before I close, I want to say something to Madison.
You are 23 years old.
You are young.
You have your whole life ahead of you.
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This doesn’t have to define you.
Eight months from now in August 2025, you can walk out of that facility and make a choice.
You can choose to be bitter and angry.
You can choose to blame me, the system, or officer Martinez.
Or you can choose to learn from this.
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You can choose to understand that you were wrong.
You can choose to become a better person.
You can use this experience to develop empathy and humility.
You can choose to spend the rest of your life making sure no one else has to go through what could have happened.
I hope you make the right choice.
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I really do because I don’t want to see you back here in 5 or 10 years facing even more serious charges.
I don’t want to read in the paper that you finally caused that accident or finally hurt someone.
I want to believe that you can change.
But that change has to start with accountability.
It has to start with accepting that what you did was wrong.
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It has to start with understanding that this sentence is not about me being mean.
