SAPULPA, Okla. (July 3) - A convicted rapist has been sentenced to life in prison for spitting on a police officer.

Creek County Associate District Judge April Sellers White followed the recommendation of a jury for the maximum sentence against John C. Marquez under a law that makes it a felony to place bodily fluids on law enforcement officers.

White rejected a prosecution request for a 25-year prison term and a defense request for a four-year term.

Following sentencing Monday, Marquez's attorney, Jason Serner, promised an appeal to the state Court of Criminal Appeals. No appeal had been filed by Thursday.

Marquez, 35, was convicted of hurling body fluids on Sapulpa Officer Charles Gadd while Gadd was taking Marquez to jail following a domestic disturbance in which a woman's arm was broken.

The 1996 state law that makes it a felony to place bodily fluids on law enforcement officers was enacted amid concerns that deadly diseases, such as AIDS, could be transmitted this way.

Gadd told the jury that Marquez spit on him despite being warned and then bit him when Gadd was trying to prevent Marquez from spitting again.

Gadd and Marquez tested negative for any communicable diseases.

The jury took 15 minutes on May 14 to recommend the life sentence. Marquez's prior felony convictions, including rape and burglary, were taken into consideration in determining the sentence.

In addition to the life term, Marquez received one year in jail and a $3,000 fine for his conviction for domestic assault and a $500 fine for resisting a peace officer.

Telephone calls to the judge, the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney were not returned Thursday.

Why was a convicted rapist not already serving a life term?  Why was he even still breathing?

The three strikes law at work.  One of the only good things about California.

More importantly why are police officers afforded higher esteem in criminal law than ordinary citizens?  How is it more wrong to spit on a cop than a janitor?  We all are suseptable(sp?) to the same diseases.  I'm a serviceman, a genuine non-civilian but if this happened to me what would the consequenses?

BTW life in prison for spitting on somebody is fucking rediculous and IMO violates your right to cruel and unusual punishment.  

The civilian police force... the standing army of the USA[V]

Maybe, but its a HELL of a deterrant, isnt it?

The People have spoken..........


(edited to capitalize the word JURY and RECOMMEND)

My thoughts also, but be careful or they'll start calling you jrzy

God, I love Oklahoma [banana]

Not if he spit on me!  In some circumstances that could result in the death penalty.

What if he spit blood on you and he had HIV?

Then I believe you are justified as if it is assault with intent to kill, but thats not the case here ,the guy tested negative for anything.
this is a hard one to defend , the guy is a convicted rapist so he's already a scumbag, I am having a hard time defending this guys sentence.

Lawman, Hypothetical argument!

I am mearly stating that police, when victims or criminals, should not be afforded any type of special attention in the sentencing guidlines of criminal proceedings.  

He spit on somebody.  No blood, no diseases, just spit on somebody.  Simple assault yes, capital crime, not even close!

The reason that some folks (like Peace Officers, prison guards, and so on) are afforded a higher level of protection under the law has nothing to do with that individual officer. It has to do with the fact that an assault against that person is an assault against the criminal justice system, embodied by the officer who takes the brunt of that assault.

Many of our state's "Peace Officer" specific laws have been changed to a more generic "Public Servant" standard, in order to afford a higher level of protection to government employees in general. The only ones that are Peace officer specific any more are Capital Murder, and offenses that would very narrowly only apply to Police, like Evading Arrest, Resisting Arrest, Taking a Weapon from a Peace Officer and such.

For what it is worth (and probably not much with this crowd), I have had numerous blood exposures. I have been through the training, and know what to do to avoid blood exposures, and I take all of the protective measures, and I still wind up getting exposed. Many are from helping hurt folks (CPR can often be bloody work). Some are from injured suspects, and some were intentional on the part of a suspect who didn't want to go to jail. It sucks, having to get blood tests all of the time, waiting for the results, having to alter your lifestyle to protect your loved ones while waiting for a "clean" test, and having five minutes to decide whether this particular exposure is worth going on the "Protease Coctail" and making yourself sick as hell for a few weeks.

Anyone who intentionally tires to expose the public servant to that deserves prison time. I have had prisoners bite their tongues so that they would have blood to spit at me. I had one guy who tore stiches out so that he could get enough blood out to paint the walls of his cell (joke was on him; the court made him pay the two grand clean-up bill). Intentionally exposing someone to disease like that is an evil, vile act. Let him rot.

How about a not-so-hypothetical situation, related closely to the topic at hand?

You get dispatched to a fight in a bar parking lot. You arrive and combat has temporarily ceased. You rapidly sort out that one drunken person attacked several others. All of the parties point out the primary aggressor, including univolved witnesses, and the off-duty cops working security at the bar. To make matters worse, drunken aggressor even used a club during some of the assaults, causing some fairly serious (Agg Assault-type) injuries. He has committed a felony, and you pretty much have to arrest him.

Your back-up guys are there, and you go to arrest the drunken, bloody wreck. He squares off, raises his dukes, and loudly declares that he is "HIV Positive" and he is not going to go to jail tonight. He has several bleeding wounds.

What level of force can you use to get him into custody? He isn't armed, that you can tell, and is only offerring empty-handed aggression. What level of force can you use to protect yourself from him? What if he starts spitting blood, or hurling other bodily fluids at you? What level of force can you use to stop his assaults? After he is in custody, what level of force can you use to get him to stop spitting blood? How do you do this without injuring him or violating his civil rights? What do you tell your wife when you go home?

But when a cop steps out of line we have to throw the book at him, right?  Beause he is a public official and he should know better.  We need to get the message across that a cop is held to a higher standard.  Sound familiar?  

You cant have it both ways.  Either the cop is the same as a civilian or he is not.  

As an EMT I had combative, drunk and so on patients do all the same stuff, but I was afforded no additional protection. I've had several exposures as well, and it sucks every bit as bad as Natez described. I guess the difference is we get to chemically restrain our combative perps, and probe every orafice in their bodies with a large variety of needles and tubes. Trust me, never piss off a healthcare professional that is charged with your care. [devil]

Rape aught to carry a summary exicution anyway.

Murder can be impersonal, especially if the victem doesnt suffer. I believe in life after death so death doesnt realy bother me. Robbery is usually pretty impersonal too, but rape...nothing pisses me off more. I would live a satisfied life if I could travel the world and bathe my hands in the bood of rapists. Gut-ripper bowie knives and saw back bayonets were made for that kind of work. ...of course....nothing personal.

natez,  I had been in a similar situation once.  But first your scenerio needs to get back to reality.

No drunk dude even with a club is gonna take down more than one person before he gets his head stomped in, at least any bar/nightclub I've had the pleasure to work at.  Also not sure where you are at but in my neck of the woods bar owners DO NOT want off-duty cops working as security for a plethora of reasons.


But getting back to your scenario.   I worked at many bars/nightclubs as a bouncer and manager and at one place there was a guy who was a dirtbag drunk.  He proudly claimed to many that he had HIV as often as he could.  As one would assume folks left him alone and he was asked to not return to the bar.  One night my  buddy left early as it was slow.  A few minutes after he leaves he returns back inside to get me.  I ask what for and he says wait until we get outside.  Here we find Mr HIV all drunked up, strung out on drugs, bleeding from my buddy's beating carrying a pipe.  He jumped my buddy and tried to rob him.  He rushed at me swinging the pipe, daring me to get his blood on me.  Mr HIV left the parking lot via ambulance with his blood dripping out of his ear canals.  Oh, no injuries on my part.  My buddy had a briuse on his arm.

IMO if the guy is doing as you say, shoot him as he is trying to infect you with a lethal pathogen.  Now this can set a bad precident where bad cops could use a "he said he had AIDS and tried to spit on me so I shot him." line for less than good shootings.

It is a risk you take, it comes with the territory.  I've had knives pulled on me, had a gun pulled on me, hit with cue sticks, bottles, mugs, purses, you name it.  I've been in so many brawls I can't even begin to recount them.  I've to deal with bloody drunks more than any cop I've ever known.  Yes, BBP's were always a worry for me but you do yor best to avoid that stuff and when forced to deal with it you try to be as safe as possible.  I once gave CPR to a guy who had a massive heart attack.  He vomitted in my mouth.  He died anyway.  Did I have to try to help him?  No.  I was worried about some BBP but I felt that helping him was more important than the risk I would incur.  Just my sense of right and wrong.  Besides if in a similar situation I hope someone would do the same for me.

If it is a worry get into another line of work but special treatment based on pathogenic risks is BS.  We are all just as exposed.

And I don't buy the argument of tougher sentences and consequenses because of the public institution stuff either.  It does nothing more than stigmatize authority as higher than common people when in fact these people are nothing more than citizens working for the public at large.  Cops, dog catchers, park rangers, etc. and the agency they are employed by is owned by the people.  It and they are intrinsically no more important than the people they represent.  Anything else is an excuse for incremental totalitarianism.

edited to add that placing the importance of public sevants higher than the common citizen reeks of placing the collective above the individual.  We all know what that is!
 

Agreed.  Ive been the first one at the scene to more than one rape and I only wish that everyone kept a gun in their house for these cowards.  Ive seen a few 18-25 year old girls raped by burglars (a couple of them were raped by more than one perp).  Too bad they didnt have a gun to make sure that these scumbags never get the chance to rape again.

I don't buy this argument; it stinks highly of BS -- if you attack a "peace officer" then it's probably assult, yes, unless the officer was in the wrong, and you were defending yourself; but an attack on that officer is NOT an attack on the system, it is an attack on THAT officer.

Lets say, for the sake of argument, you get stopped by that one asshole that every department seems to have at least one of; you know, the one that thinks he's THE MAN and all you peons shall do as HE says, and has a huge attitude problem.  

Now, during this traffic stop, you say something he doesn't like, and he starts dragging you out of the car through the window, or dragging you out of the car while you're still tangled in the seatbelt, or whathave you, and you, feeling that YOU'RE being attacked, strike back, and while we're in the hypothetical, get in a lucky punch and break the guys nose.  Was that an attack on the justice system?

I think not.  That was an attack on the officer who went overboard because of something you said.  Should you be hauled up on assult charges?  Well, sure.  If you got into a fight with a guy at a bar and broke his nose, you probably would.  Same rules should apply here.

Should you go away for life because the person with a broken nose was an officer?  Nope.  They get paid to take the risks, THAT is their compensation; their compensation shouldn't involve clauses that say "any criminal act agains this person is punishable by life in prision or death"

My $.02, and no, I won't be coming back to argue more -- call me a cop-basher if you want (but notice I specifically said it was the asshole cop that MOST departments seem to have at least one of, NOT ALL COPS), or not, but the "attack on society" line is a load of BS.

Hunduh,  try reading the post before you try to start a flame war.

Not trying to start a flame war, I guess I should have put more effort into reading that post.  You're right, its in there, "victims or criminals".  Sorry

Steven

bullshit! No such thing as legally defending yourself from a law enforcment officer, ALA RUBY RIDGE, WACO, Etc. All legal IF it wasnt COPS trying it.

This is when a smart policeman keeps his mouth shut. He allows his favorite Uncle Smitty to reason with the thug.

The discussion should be short, sharp and decisive.

Sometimes LEOs talk too damned much.

No harm, no foul Hunduh.

AZ, not sure what your trying to say?

No shit! I love Tulsa (close enough)
It will probably get overturned on appeal, but I'm getting damn sick and tired of everyone playing the "AIDS" card trying to get a private cell and stay out of the tank. I saw a prisoner try that crap a while back. The joke was on him, he tested negative for HIV but POSITIVE for Hep-C. Thank God the arresting officer tested negative for both because the shitbag spit right in officer's face and then laughed "how does it feel to have AIDS?" while they were trying to fingerprint him. I'm afraid I would have shot the bastard.

Sounds resonable to me. Dont spit on and bite people if you dont want to go to prison.

That scumbag shouldn't have been out of prison in the first place.  Sounds like a lifelong criminal dirtbag.  

I highly doubt he would've gotten 25yrs had his record been clean.

Goodbye scumbag![FU!]

I've always thought a good ole ass whippin does wonders.

Tie his ass up a get Kendo player to cane his ass Singapore style.

Not just spitting but I've always felt that anyone who runs from the cops, in a car or on foot no matter, should get the ass kicking of their lives. It should be part of the sentance. But on the other hand it didn't do Rodney King any good. Do you think if he knew that eveytime he screwed up that he was in for a good thrashing would make any differance?

so why is it a bigger crime to assault government than individuals?

i thought people had rights, not governments

get the bean bag gun and shoot him, over and over again. if he comes at you. shoot him with lead.

Thats when a smart police officer just pops one in the fuckers chest.Well thats if he starts spitting at yah after telling ya he is HIV positive. Simple justification- How may asswipes have knowingly infected others, not telling them the are HIV positive or have aids, and than been charged for it. IIRC there have been a good dozen or so people charged with murder, or attempted murder for knowingly infecting others with HIV/AIDS. The drunk is trying to give you a TERMINAL disease, he's trying to kill ya. Deadly force is completely justifiable to me. If i was sitting on some jury or whatever it is that they do around here that they do when looking into  a police shooting dealing with the above situation. I'd say hey good shoot, and nothing anyone else could say would change that in my mind.

well I was a C.O. and that didn't happen when we were spat upon. The sinmate would wish he were dead,however.

After reading the article and seeing the punishments handed out for each offense, I have one observation.

It's worse to spit on a Police Officer than it is to assault and break the arm of a woman during a domestic dispute...

Another sign that this country is becoming a "police state".

Another way to look at it: Living with a wife beating rapist is not a crime, it's a lifestyle choice. The cop however doesnt have a choice.

Probably a safer and more effective choice would be..[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=14400[/img]
Give the electric ride till everyone can glove up and cuff the man.