It's no secret that where you commit a crime will have a lot to do with how serious your punishment will be.  In Wisconsin, if you decide to get drunk and kill somebody, the unmistakable message from a pair of recent cases is - do it in MIlwaukee County!

     Last May, 20 year old Sarah Stachula of Oak Creek was riding in an SUV driven by 20 year old Nenad Paldrmic. Stachula was killed when Paldrmic lost control of his vehicle as he was exiting the Lake Park Freeway around 2:30 in the morning.  Paldrmic, who was under the legal drinking age at the time of the crash, had a blood alcohol level of between .08 and 1.1.  In other words, had Paldrmic been legally allowed to drink, he would still have been over the legal limit.

     Paldrmic was facing up to 25 years in prison as a result of his criminal conduct.  A few days ago, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Patricia McMahon disregarded the wishes of the victim's mother and sentenced Paldrmic to 1 year in the House of Correction with work release privileges and a subsequent 10 year period of probation.

     Candidly, to describe Judge McMahon's sentence as a "slap on the wrist" would be to insult slaps on the wrist.

     What is most striking though is the way other judges in other counties handle similar crimes.

     A couple of days after Judge McMahon sentenced Paldrmic to a year in the House of Correction, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Ralph Ramirez sentenced 50 year old Kenneth Fekete to 15 years in prison. Last St. Patrick's Day, Fekete (who had no prior criminal record) got himself blind drunk and got behind the wheel of his car.  Fekete's vehicle then crossed the center line of Highway 18 and ran head on into a vehicle carrying Iraq war veteran Paul Clark, his fiancee Amanda Kwick and her mother, Dawn Gilbert.  Clark and Kwick were killed in the collision and Gilbert sustained serious injuries.  Fekete had a blood alcohol level of .34 at the time of the crash.

     Obviously, there are some differences in the cases.  Fekete killed two people and injured another while Paldrmic "only" killed one.  Similarly, Fekete was blind drunk while Paldrmic was underage and merely drunk.   Fekete is older (50) while Paldrmic is younger (20). At the same time, nether man had a criminal record and both expressed sincere remorse for their conduct.      

     I don't mean to suggest in any way that Fekete's sentence was inappropriate.  It wasn't.  If you get yourself drunk and kill people with your car, you need to go to prison for a long period of time.  Judge Ramirez's sentence assures that Fekete will do just that.

     It is, however, hard to reconcile the severity of Fekete's sentence with the leniency of the sentence given to Paldrmic.  While Fekete will be in prison for the next 15 years, Paldrmic will be signing himself in and out of the House of Correction for the next 12 months.  Meanwhile their respective victims are just as dead.

     I've always been troubled by the notion that a defendant's sentence can vary substantially based on factors like (1) whether they draw a tough judge or a softie; or (2) which county they commit their crime in.  To this end, a number of years ago, the federal government tried to minimize the disparities in sentences between judges by requiring mandatory minimum sentences for various types of crimes.  Unfortunately, Wisconsin has resisted any efforts to move in this direction.

     Candidly, I think a five year mandatory minimum sentence for killing someone while driving drunk would be more than reasonable.  This would assure that judges punish people who commit serious crimes but still give them the ability to impose larger sentences on defendants who engage in more aggravated conduct or who have lengthier criminal records.

     Requiring mandatory minimum sentences by statute would, of course, not be necessary if all judges across the state were willing to hold criminals accountable.  The reality though is that they're not.  As a result, life is just a lot cheaper in some courtrooms and some counties than in others.

     Don't believe me? Just ask Sarah Stachula's mom.