Authorities charged her with attempted first-degree murder, five counts of arson, assault and battery, communicating threats, three counts of misdemeanor child abuse, injury to personal property, identity theft and resisting a public officer.
Wow! Those are some serious charges. Let's look closer. First, attempted first-degree murder:
According to police documents, Mangum scratched, punched and threw objects at Walker and told him, "I'm going to stab you, (expletive)!"
Hmmm... doesn't really sound like attempted murder to me. Next, five counts of arson:
She then went into a bathroom and set his clothes on fire in the bathtub, police said.
Hmmm... arson? I guess technically it's destruction of property using fire, but I don't think that's the sort of thing people think of as arson. Five counts? A shirt, pants, pair of socks and underwear? Beats me. Next, how about "identity theft:"
Police charged Mangum with identity theft because she gave them a fake name, "Marella Mangum," and age, authorities said.
Her real name is Crystal Gale Mangum. This is identity theft? Again, that's not what most people think of as identity theft.
This all seems way out of line to me. It also seems like I am seeing more and more of this kind of thing, i.e. prosecutors charging people with crimes way more serious than is warranted by the alleged deeds. I'm sure this sort of "overcharging" helps to gain plea bargains with minimal effort, but that doesn't make it right. When someone is put in legal jeopardy, the potential sentence should be in line with the seriousness of the crime. These sort of charges could result in Ms Gale spending a good portion of her life in prison for what looks like little more than a fight with her boyfriend.
It's time to end this sort of prosecutorial over-reach.
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