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I have read the police reports.
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I have looked at the social media posts, specifically the Instagram post from August 15th and 16th where Madison posted videos captioned, “Got pulled over by the most pathetic cop ever.
And seriously, this guy thinks he can mess with me.
I have watched the Ring doorbell footage showing her traveling at excessive speeds.
I have considered the defendant’s age, 23 years old, and her background.
I have considered everything that should be considered in a case like this.
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But I keep coming back to something fundamental, something that gets lost sometimes in our legal system.
We have laws for a reason.
We have speed limits for a reason.
We have consequences for breaking those laws for a reason.
And the reason is simple.
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To protect people, to keep our communities safe, to ensure that everyone can live without fear of someone’s reckless behavior destroying their lives.
You know what troubles me most about this case? It’s not even the speeding, as serious as that is.
It’s not even the reckless endangerment.
It is the attitude.
It is the arrogance.
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It is the complete lack of understanding that her actions affect other people, real people with real families and real lives.
When I look at the evidence, when I read that police report, when I see those social media posts, and when I watch that doorbell footage, I see someone who has been taught, maybe not explicitly, but through experience, that consequences don’t apply to them, that they can do what they want, that their family name or their father’s money will always bail them out.
Well, not today, not in this courtroom, not on my watch.
I want to explain something about sentencing.
When a judge sentences someone, we aren’t trying to be cruel.
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We aren’t trying to destroy lives.
We are trying to do several things at once.
First, we are trying to punish the wrongdoing.
Yes, punishment is part of justice.
Second, we are trying to deter that person from doing it again.
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Third, we are trying to send a message to others watching that this behavior won’t be tolerated.
And fourth, and this is important, we are trying to protect the community.
In most cases, I can balance these goals with a sentence that is firm but merciful.
a sentence that punishes but also offers a path to redemption.
But in this case, we have multiple violations on August 15th and August 18th.
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We have a complete lack of remorse.
We have attempted intimidation of officer Daniel Martinez.
We have public mockery of law enforcement through social media posts viewed by over 12,000 people.
And most troubling of all, we have a repeat offense just 3 days after the first incident.
This tells me that the defendant either doesn’t understand the seriousness of what she has done or she understands it perfectly well and simply doesn’t care.
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