Pa. judge sentences 3 to learn English

[Dennis Baron]

  Pa. judge sentences 3 to learn English

Thu Mar 27, 2:16 PM ET

A judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish- 
speaking men to learn English or go to jail.

The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery,  
can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn  
their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul  
Olszewski Jr. said.

The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus  
a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators when  
they pleaded guilty Tuesday.

"Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of  
your life?" the judge asked them.

The four, ranging in age from 17 to 22, were in a group that police  
said accosted two men on a street in May. The two said they were  
asked if they had marijuana, told to empty their pockets, struck on  
the head, threatened with a gun and told to stay off the block.

Attorneys for the men said they were studying the legality of the  
ruling and had not decided whether to appeal. One of the attorneys,  
Ferris Webby, suggested that the ruling was good for his client,  
Guzman-Mateo.

"My client is happy," Webby said. "I think it's going to help him."

The judge sentenced the four men to jail terms of four to 24 months.  
But he gave the three men, who already had served at least four  
months, immediate parole. Reyes-Rosario remains imprisoned on an  
unrelated drug charge.

Olszewski ordered the three to return with their parole officers in a  
year and take an English test. "If they don't pass, they're going in  
for the 24 (months)," he said.

Olszewski is known for outside-the-box sentencing.

He has ordered young defendants who are school dropouts to finish  
school. He often orders defendants to get full-time employment. But  
he also has his staff coordinate with an employment agency to help  
them find the jobs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080327/ap_on_re_us/english_or_jail




Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage




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