Letter: Justice wasn’t served in Drayman case

On April 15, the cell door opened at the L.A. County jail, and prisoner Number 3918384, known to some of you as John Drayman, oozed out into the pavement, having served approximately eight days of a 365-day sentence. This is an unsupervised custody release, but our Johnny is supposed to wear an electric monitor until Sept. 28, 2014.

How did we get to this situation? After months of delay, and all types of attempted bargains, the mountain of evidence against John Drayman led him to agree to a 365-day jail term, which the trial judge felt was outrageously light, but agreed to. Drayman was hardly in his cell when the prosecuting attorney stated that he could cut 78 days off with “good behavior.” The next day the sheriff put out an announcement that, due to overcrowding, Drayman could be out on Sept. 21. This was followed up with another notice that if Johnny was a good boy, and worked in the library, and served meals, he could be out by Aug. 1. Now Drayman is out, having avoided 357 days of his sentence.

Under the guise of “white-collar crime” and “overcrowding,” the justice system has been emasculated beyond belief. You can rob, cheat, steal, and cause as much pain and anguish as a gunshot wound, but it means nothing. Eight days makes a farce or “early release” and the system becomes a joke. Unless the justice system, and the judicial system take back control of the law, we will wind up in a state of anarchy.

Jim Weling
Glendale