Progressive judge releases man even though he held woman captive, tortured her for days

World's largest gavel, outside courthouse in Columbus, Ohio

A Minnesota “judge’s sentence spared a St. Paul man any further time locked up after being accused of holding a woman captive in his home, then torturing and sex-trafficking her,” reports the Minnesota Star-Tribune:

Jabari Quentin Junior, 23, was sentenced on Jan. 5 to time served in jail since his arrest after pleading guilty to first-degree assault in connection with charges that he terrorized a 19-year-old woman nearly a year ago in a West Side Flats apartment on Wabasha Street across the Mississippi River from downtown.

Ramsey County District Judge Thomas Gilligan set aside a term of roughly 8½ years and opted to put Junior on probation for five years. He also must be registered with the state for the next 10 years as a predatory offender….

The County Attorney’s Office sought a sentence within the state guidelines range of roughly 6¼ to 8½ years for Junior….According to the criminal complaint: “Police were called on Jan. 29, 2025, to Regions Hospital, where the woman was being treated for severe burns to her face, arms and torso from boiling water. She also had stab wounds to one shin and an arm.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth denounced the incredibly lenient sentence, noting that “Sentencing guidelines called for a prison term of 6-8 years. Instead a Democrat-appointed judge lets him walk free. I will appoint judges who will enforce laws & prison sentences, & work with the legislature to crack down on pro-criminal plea deals that put Minnesotans at risk.”

As was pointed out earlier,

Criminals are sometimes quickly released by progressive prosecutors and judges who worry about “mass incarceration” if offenders have to do serious time. Most prison inmates in America are doing time for violent crimes, and the typical state prison inmate is a repeat offender with 5 convictions.

Releasing them quickly to reduce incarceration rates is risky: Most inmates commit more crimes after being released, even when they have already served over ten years in prison. Nationally, 81.9% of all state prisoners released in 2008 were subsequently arrested within a decade, including 74.5% of those 40 or older at the time of their release. (See Bureau of Justice Statistics, Recidivism of Prisoners in 24 States Released in 2008: A 10-Year Follow-Up Period (2008-2018), pg. 4, Table 4)).