Opinion
 

Murderer's sentence not equal to crime

By Paige Nieto

Marcus Hudgins was found guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday for killing 17-year-old student Marsai Murry. In November, the 22-year-old fired a gun into a stadium crowd during a football game, and Friday he received a sentence of 30 years in prison.

However, what is interesting is what Hudgins had to say in his defense when he found out he was going to face years behind bars:

"I never meant to hurt anyone. Put yourself in my shoes. Help me. I am not a killer. I am not a threat to society."

It's interesting because a person usually has the intention of hurting someone when he or she fires a gun into a crowd -- in this case, Hudgins admitted he got into an altercation with another man and fired a "warning shot," presumably to get his point across. That seems to imply that, despite his protests, he did intend to hurt someone. He just wound up hurting the wrong person.

What shoes does Hudgins want us to put ourselves in? The shoes of a man who couldn't control his anger, so he shot into a crowd full of high school students, or the shoes of a man who realized he was facing a prison term because of his lack of anger management? Whatever the case, Hudgins had a tremendous amount of audacity to have told the jurors he wasn't a killer. No matter what level of denial Hudgins may be in, there is no doubt that he is a killer. He took away a young woman's life before it really started. Now she is 6 feet underground, and her parents are grappling with the loss of their only child.

Hudgins only received 30 years in prison for his crime. The death penalty wasn't even mentioned. Rather than lying to himself and the public by saying he is not a killer or a threat to society, he should have been on his knees thanking God -- from whom he asked forgiveness, according to testimony -- that he is not facing the death penalty.

This is Texas, and Texans are known for being well into the "pro" column when it comes to the death penalty, so it could be that in some people's eyes, Hudgins is getting off lightly.

Whatever he may have said in his defense, the fact remains that Hudgins did kill another human being. He walked into that stadium with the intention to hurt -- possibly to kill -- a man, but instead he struck Murry with his bullet. The fact remains that, despite all the concerns he had for his own rights, on that night he showed no concern for anyone else's when he walked into that stadium. He deserves much more than 30 years.

Nieto, a columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at dccampus@mail.uh.edu.