Charles Kane Jr. – A Plea Bargain Shouldn’t Be An Option

How do you negotiate with a guy like Charles R. Kane Jr.?

A guy who was left in charge of a little 3-year-old boy named Elijah. Elijah accidentally wet his pants. Furious, Charles R. Jane Jr. shoved him so hard into a refrigerator that the child was unconscious when the mother returned home. So hard that Elijah slipped into a coma.  So hard that he never recovered and died a few weeks later in the hospital. 3 years old.

How do you negotiate with a guy like Charles R. Kane Jr., who said, "I pushed him a little too hard into the refrigerator. I was angry. But I didn't think I pushed him that hard."

Instead of going to trial, the state pursued a plea bargain. The negotiations went on for months. One offer was to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter and serve a 20-year term. Charles R. Kane Jr. turned that down. The negotiations continued.

Now, two years after Elijah's death, Kane finally took a plea agreement and accepted a 15-year term. He's been held in jail in lieu of bail, so I'm sure that time will come off the 15 years. And I'm sure the phrase "must serve 85% of his sentence" will come into play here too. So what are we really talking here? Maybe 11 years? So he'll be out when Elijah still would have been a child in his teens? Still not able to even drive a car, let alone vote, live on his own, go to college, have a wife, have a life? This is justice?

Aren't there some crimes when a plea bargain shouldn't even be a consideration? Isn't this one of them? How do you negotiate with a guy like Charles R. Kane Jr.? God forgive us, we found a way.