Inequality in US Criminal Law - the Jake Laskey Case

Temple Beth Israel (Eugene, Oregon)

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Temple Beth Israel (Hebrew: ‫בית ישראל‎) is a Reconstructionist synagogue located at 1175 East 29th Avenue in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in the early 1930s as a Conservative congregation, Beth Israel was for many decades the only synagogue in Eugene.

In the early 1990s conflict partly defined by differences between feminist and traditional members led to the latter leaving Beth Israel, and forming the Orthodox Congregation Ahavas Torah. 

Beth Israel came under attack from neo-Nazi members of the Volksfront twice, in 1994 and again in 2002. In both cases the perpetrators were caught and convicted. 

Marcus Simmons was hired as the congregation's first rabbi in 1959, but left in 1961. After a gap of two years, Louis Neimand became rabbi in 1963, and served until his death in 1976. He was followed by Myron Kinberg, who served from 1977 to 1994, and Kinberg in turn was succeeded by Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin. Maurice Harris joined Husbands-Hankin as rabbi in 2003, and served until 2011, when he was succeeded by Boris Dolin. As of 2011, led by Husbands-Hankin and Dolin, Beth Israel had approximately 400 member households, and was the largest synagogue in Eugene.

Early history[edit]

Small numbers of German Jews began settling in Eugene in the late 19th century, but most moved on. In the early 20th century the first Eastern European Jews settled there, and by the 1920s Eugene's Jewish community began gathering prayer quorums for holding Friday night and Jewish holiday services in individuals' homes. Historian Steven Lowenstein writes that "[a]fter Hymen Rubenstein's death in 1933, his home at 231 West Eighth Street was remodeled and named Temple Beth Israel".[5] It was a traditional Conservative synagogue,[6] and from that time until the 1990s it was the only synagogue in Eugene.[7][8]

Attacks by neo-Nazis[edit]

On March 20, 1994, Chris Lord, an individual associated with the Volksfront and American Front, fired ten rounds with an assault rifle into the temple, damaging the interior.[59] The attacks were prompted by a newspaper article about several members of Eugene's Jewish community, including a lesbian. Community organizations, including a local gay rights group, responded by standing vigil outside the synagogue during Passover services.[60] Lord and an associate were caught and convicted, and Lord was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.[59]

On October 25, 2002 Jacob Laskey, his brother Gabriel Laskey, Gerald Poundstone, Jesse Baker, and one other man, all members of the Volksfront, drove to Beth Israel with the intent of intimidating the congregants. While a service with 80 members attending was taking place, the men threw rocks etched with Nazi swastikas through synagogue stained glass windows, then sped off.[59] The men were caught, pleaded guilty, and were convicted. They served sentences ranging from a 6-month work release term and five years probation, to eleven years and three months in federal prison for the ringleader, Jacob Laskey.[61][62]

FoGDLJr. Comment: For those of us who are not American we find the anomaly odd: 'ten rounds from an assault rifle' gets 4.5 years gaol; but 'a rock through a window' gets 11 years. 

In English law there is a concept of 'precedence'. When sentencing, consideration is given to previous cases and the penalty weighted to reflect any similarities.  In Jake Laskey's case, he used no firearms nor presented a threat to life, limb or liberty. 

In all these, however, Chris Lord would seem to qualify. So why the 4.5 versus 11 years? On this basis alone there would seem to be grounds for an appeal.