Jarod Fogle asks for Sentence Reduction
Several months ago, former Subway pitchman, Jarod Fogle, was sentenced to 15 years 8 months in prison for child pornography and sex with underage children. This past week, he and his attorneys have sought an appeal through the Seventh Circuit Court, for a reduction in his sentence.
Fogel and his team argue that Judge Tanya Walton Pratt “abused her discretion” when sentencing him beyond the 12 and a 1/2 years agreed upon as part of his plea deal.
Mr. Fogel focused on 3 main areas in dispute of his original sentence which included A) he had no role in nor did he plead guilty to CP production B) he was punished for “fantasies” disclosed to a third party, which he never acted on C) he never requested nor collected CP he received from his former business partner.
Mr. Fogel claimed he was unfairly punished for seeking treatment after his arrest and that a probation officer’s recommendation that he would suffer stress and collateral damage due to his notariety and should therefore receive a reduced sentence, was not taken into consideration.
The article has me thinking, how much time is too much for a sex offense? If sentencing is based on contact vs. non-contact offenses, why are so many young first-time-non-contact offenders doing 10 years? If attorneys agree on plea deals, should the judge be allowed to go “above and beyond” in sentencing because of their own personal views? And should an officer of the court recommend someone get a lesser sentence because they’re famous?
How many of our incarcerated family or friends could afford an appeal such as this one?
The dispostion of Jarod Fogel’s case will be made public at a later date.