by TChris

Colbert King wants to know what should happen "when the criminal justice system renders an injustice itself -- one so egregious that it results in a tragic death and an irrevocable shattering of lives of family and friends?"

Washington D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Retchin sentenced Jonathan Magbie, a quadriplegic, to 10 days in jail for simple possession of marijuana. She did so even though the prosecution didn't ask for jail and even though she knew that the jail couldn't accommodate Magbie's disability.

Magbie died in the custody of the D.C. Department of Corrections.

Why she decided to incarcerate Magbie, totally dependent, unable to breathe reliably on his own -- and a first-time offender -- remains an unanswered question that court officials would just as soon see go away. It won't. It can't.

TalkLeft's background coverage of this case appears here and here.