Lovers’ Quarrel

Re “Lovers’ Spat Spins Directly Into Mandatory Sentencing Laws,” Feb. 3: If your article is to be believed, it’s the mandatory sentencing laws that are to blame for Jeff Berryhill’s predicament. I beg to differ. It’s the fault of one overzealous assistant Emmet County (Iowa) attorney, Richard Meyer.

Anyone who thinks that we don’t need mandatory sentencing laws should talk to the mother of Latasha Harlins. Meyer is obviously more concerned with his conviction rate than he is with justice. Justice demands that we seek and find the truth. This means finding out not only what someone did but why. Compassion and common sense must enter into any decision.

Berryhill is not a hardened criminal. He’s a love-sick boy who made one stupid mistake. Meyer should think back to his own youth and try to imagine if someone prosecuted him to the fullest extent of the law for everything stupid he did between the ages of 18 and 21.

Anyone who has ever had his heart broken knows the feeling. If Meyer is so heartless that he never had his broken, perhaps he should have recused himself from this case.

ERIC J. LITTLE

Burbank