Justice may be blind, but common sense gets blindsided

•Swiping a duffel bag? Six years in prison.

•Savagely beating a woman? Probation.

•Making sense of our courts? Unlikely.

When Superman used to wage "the never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way," the "child me" wanted to believe the whole thing was real. The "adult me" knows that Superman is fiction, truth is subjective and justice is-well, consider these two recent court cases.

Anthony Abbate, a Chicago police officer, was sentenced to two years of probation this week. His crime was violent; a felony case of aggravated battery that was caught on a security camera. You've probably watched the video on your computer.

In it, Abbate, a 40-year-old, 6-foot-1, 250-pound, drunken lout roughs up a 5-foot-3, 115-pound barmaid, grabbing her by the hair, yanking her to the floor and punching and kicking her. In a ludicrous statement that would draw laughs if not for the seriousness of the crime, an unrepentant Abbate testified under oath that he was merely protecting himself from the petite, 26-year-old woman.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge John J. Fleming dismissed prosecutors' request for prison time, and instead sentenced Abbate to probation, community service and some alcohol and anger management help.

Abbate is a free man. Fleming, however, is drawing attention from the National Organization for Women and others who think beating up women is a crime that merits a tougher punishment.

The sentence seems too lenient to me.

Meanwhile, the next day in a Cook County courtroom in Rolling Meadows, a Prospect Heights man convicted of swiping a duffel bag from a car was sentenced to six years in prison.

That sentence seems too harsh to me.

Robert "Bobby" Kee, 39, is a burglar. When Kee got drunk recently, he didn't beat up a woman less than half his size. He sneaked up to an unoccupied car in Prospect Heights, stole a bag, and when confronted by witnesses, dropped the duffel and stuck around until the cops showed up.

Which drunk would you rather see in your neighborhood bar, and which drunk would you rather see behind bars?

"It kills me to send you to the penitentiary for six years for breaking into a car," Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Fecarotta told Kee, according to our story by legal affairs writer Barbara Vitello, "but I have to, according to the law."

Since Kee had two prior burglary convictions, his third crime, no matter how petty, qualifies as his third strike and requires a mandatory prison sentence of between six and 30 years in prison.

Judicial hands tied by mandatory sentencing laws that ignore common sense, Fecarotta gave Kee the minimum six years for stealing a duffel bag. That's half of what defense attorneys are seeking for Bernard Madoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud in a Ponzi scheme that ripped off at least 1,341 victims for more than $13 billion.

It's hard to do the justice system math. Does that mean Kee would have gotten 12 years if he took two duffel bags, or does it mean Madoff would be free the same day as Kee if he'd only stolen $6.5 billion? Does it mean Abbate would have gotten prison time if he, while holding the small woman by her hair and raining punches on her, had taken her duffel bag?

The United States houses the world's largest criminal population at 7.3 million people. Our department of corrections "city" is bigger than Los Angeles and Chicago combined. Taxpayers spent $51.7 billion on corrections last year, according to a recent Reuters story. Since punishment is a large part of truth, justice and the American way of life, you'd think we'd be experts on doling out penalties.

But our judicial system is a lot like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." Some sentences are too soft, some are too hard and finding one that is just right in this column would be a fairy tale.