Lottery winner wasn't supposed to gamble... Need your opinion...?

Question

What do you think of this?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071128/ap_on_fe_st/odd_robber_lottery_winner

Hey [Laughing] No offence taken !!!!

Just happen to see this - was just an unbelievable story - I just wanted to receive some feedback from everybody. Thanks to those who have given there opinion.

Hi Joe,

Thanks for your statement.. Very interesting..
I personally - could - not - WAIT!!!! When that call of NATURE kicks in ... I have to go - THEN & NOW!!!!

Hi Magic,

Thanks for your statement!

To me - Well? The "The Jury is still out". I have mixed feelings on this and still - OUT.
I would like to know the outcome of this and see as to where our judicial system goes with this problem and how others might re-act to the decision that is handed down.
It might have been better to have given this "winning ticket" to a family then to go on record has having it to himself.

Magic [error]

"to a family member"

To fifibee16

Thanks for your response. I mostly believe that he should be given the money. The money to which he spent and others on the tickets went into other government areas?
Again - Thanks.

Answer 1

There are several variables I don't know about the history of this mans conviction and parole. Did he commit robbery to feed a gambling habit? It seems like an odd stipulation. Is he not allowed to enter stores or banks while on parole too? I mean, he did commit unarmed robbery of a bank, right? Did he bet a friend he could get away with it taking the 7 - 1 over under on the odds? Even so, I'm sure he took this stipulation to his parole so he could get out of jail. No matter how much it was a violation of rights, people get cornered into taking the stipulations because if they don't they face sitting in jail for even longer. Let's use a simple case. Public urination. You get caught going to the bathroom in an alley on a Saturday night after leaving the bar. You get a $100 fine and parole for 6 months. What if the judge said, ok, as a term of parole you can no longer urinate on Saturdays because your crime was urination and you did it on Saturday. Sorry pal, gotta hold it until Sunday or get it all out on Friday before midnight. Is the offender going to accept the agreement? Probably, or face jail time if he says no. What would you do? A good attorney could argue the conditions, but most people don't have the money to pay an attorney for that kind of time, so they take what is given and roll over to the system.
It seems like a very grey area of a violation of his rights. I'm in no way saying he should or should not be allowed to keep the money. My only question to everyone posting is... Where does it start and stop? How far should the court system and the government be allowed to go before it infringes on our personal rights. If you can answer that question, then we can answer this one. It seems to me the justice system has taken it upon themselves to "flex" the laws, just as defense attorney can do to get their clients out of trouble. Even though it is operating in the guidelines of the current text of law, how far should judges be allowed to mingle in the shadow of personal rights vs. a violation of constitutional law. I think we have to go back to the stipulations placed on his parole in the first place. Was that the right of the court to prevent this man from conducting one LEGAL activity because of a choice he made in a different illegal matter? Keep in mind, he is on parole, he is not incarcerated. Parole and incarceration are two different things. He served his time for his past crime. Felons, in most cases, can not be in possession of a firearm, even after serving a sentence... but do we need to expand that and say, no guns or scratch off tickets? I think you see my point.
Thanks for the question Old Dawg
To fifibee16 : He did not commit a crime when he violated parole. Not a new crime anyway. By not meeting the conditions of his parole he may be sent back to jail for a period of time for the original crime of unarmed robbery, but this is a revocation of parole, which is just that, basically taking back a deal with the court... I won't do XXXXX this, and in return you let me out of jail early etc.
No where in the law books does it say it is illegal for a felon to purchase scratch off tickets. Only if he had gambled illegally by the rules set forth in his state could he be convicted of another crime. If he gets the money taken away it is a terrible injustice. The more I think about this the more I sway towards giving him his money. Can they send him back to jail for a while, yeah, he did violate parole, but there is nothing saying a person on parole cannot earn a profit, be it from gambling or a 9 to 5 job. A good angle for his attorney would be to show gambling is and has become a profession. Look at ESPN, and other channels.. you see professional poker as a career now. Humm? Maybe he was earning a living? I hope he gets a good attorney and not a court appointed guy who will roll over.
I am not an expert, but these are my opinions.

Answer 2

What a weird story!
Personally I don't find the corralation between unarmed robbery and gambling.
I've never heard of that as a probation violation unless you tried to cheat a gambling house.

Answer 3

I think he should lose it. I got an example (but it's no great).

Say you were convicted of shoplifting. You're put on probation and not supposed to do it again, but you do, and you end up stealing a book from a used book store that turns out to be a rare first edition worth $100,000. I don't think you'd still get to keep the book would you?

Answer 4

Is violation of a condition of probation a crime? I don' know the answer to this. But if it is not, then the man did not commit a crime by buying the ticket, I think the winnings should be his to keep. He may be fined or even given jail time for the violation but he may not have committed an additional crime.

Answer 5

My opinion is he violated his parole & it should be up to the parole officer to make this decision. I can guarantee you take the money away from this guy he is going to go rob a bank the first chance he gets. It stinks for him but it did say for him not to play the lottery. Im not sure if someone explained it to him face to face or it was written in some small paragraph. It should totally be up to the parole office to make the decision.
Maybe he can kick his proby officer 50G's to let him keep it.

Answer 6

If he accepted not gambling as a condition of his probation then why should winning make a difference?

Answer 7

This is clearly a story made up by the press. It is like the story of that family of 'silly-billies' in the States who won 200 million Pounds on the lottery 2 or 3 years ago. Sure... if you believe this sort of thing you'll believe anything ( no offence intended ).

Answer 8

Well at least he will know what its like to be robed if he looses it all A!
I think he should loose it as he is in violation of his probation..

Answer 9

He violated his probation. That being said, this guy is an IDIOT. He should have gave the ticket to a friend to claim and split the money. What an idiot~!

Answer 10

I think he's an idiot, I don't know why he didn't have a family member collect it.