Judge Sentences Former Deputy To One-Year Behind Bars For Man's Killing

[groovychk]

http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/news/7670020/detail.html?subid=22100423&qs=1;bp=t

Anders Shot, Killed Handcuffed Suspect In December 2004, Police Say

POSTED: 11:09 pm MST March 3, 2006

UPDATED: 11:13 pm MST March 3, 2006

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. -- Billy Anders, the former sheriff's deputy who pleaded guilty to shooting and killing a handcuffed man, will spend one year behind bars, Action 7 News reported.

Anders was sentenced Friday in Alamogordo.

VIDEO: Anders Sentenced

"If I could do it all over again, in hindsight your honor, I would do it differently," Anders said in court. "We don't have the benefit, unfortunately."

Defense lawyers were hoping that Anders one-year sentence would be served with an ankle bracelet, rather than jail.

"The mandatory sentence in this case is one year," said Judge James Waylon Counts. "I have no legal authority to allow Mr. Anders to serve that one year anywhere but with the Department of Corrections."

"He'll do it, and he'll do it well, and he'll be model prisoner and he'll make them proud of him," said Anders' attorney, Bob Doughty.

The former Otero County deputy killed Earl Flippen on Dec. 18, 2004, after finding his partner's body outside of Flippen's home.

Police said they believe Flippen murdered Anders' partner.

Anders shot Flippen moments after handcuffing the suspect, a moment that was caught on the dashboard camera of Anders' police cruiser.

District attorney Scotty Key said he hated to be involved in the case, but he believed it was the right thing to do.

"Billy Anders is not a typical defendant, he's a police officer," Key said. "He's a good person who did a bad thing one time and it had tragic, disastrous results."

Anders' family was visibly upset after the verdict was read. Action 7 News reported that they weren't the only ones hoping for a lighter sentence.

"Is the world better off for Bill Anders going to prison?" asked Otero County Sheriff John Blansett. "Certainly not. Is the world better off for Earl Flippen dying? On a personal level, I believe so."

Security was tight around the courthouse, due to a threat made by the white supremacist group, Aryan Brotherhood, against Anders

Anders was free Friday night and is scheduled to turn himself into authorities next week.

Doughty said Anders could be home sooner than a year on good behavior.

Friday was Anders' 63rd birthday.

This pig shot a man that was in custody? Because he was mad at him? WTF? And he is begrudgingly given even a year in jail? WTF??

Comments

Re: Bill Anders

[groovychk.livejournal.com]

Protocol? Shooting a handcuffed suspect that was in custody is not just violating protocol. I read two articles on this and that's about the extent of how much I'm going to research something like this. The good guys always have to do the right thing. Any abuse of power is flat out wrong. I don't have my attitude towards cops in general for no reason. The facts as presented in the article say nothing about all the details of what happened prior to the criminal being in custody and handcuffed. If he was gonna kill him he should have done that beforehand. From the testimonies I did read about and from what you say I'm sure Mr. Anders is a good man but he made a criminal mistake - the law applies to law enforcment people just like it does to rich folks and politicians - or it should - even more so.

Re: Bill Anders

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't excuse Bill's reaction. He says that one split second of reaction changed his entire life. So, yes, especially because of his commitment to uphold the entire law, Bill did the wrong thing. He did, however, save the life of the little girl. And he lost one of his best friend's and partner. He will do his time for his crime.
But will society be better off with Bill Ander's behind bars?