Prosecutor says gunman’s 10 years in prison reflects real world
When Fifth District Judge Robert Lane announced the maximum sentence Tuesday of nearly 10 years for troubled Iraq War veteran Joseph Patrick Lamoureux, he was implying that in the real world of today's overcrowded prisons, minimum sentences turn out to be the maximums that many felons serve.
That's according to Nye County Chief Prosecutor Kirk Vitto who sought and was granted consecutive maximum terms for Lamoureux who agreed to plea guilty to two felonies -- battery and assault with a deadly weapon -- and a gross misdemeanor of discharging a weapon during a Sept. 19, 2008, shooting spree at Terrible's Lakeside RV Park in Pahrump that wounded sheriff's Deputy Eric Murphy.
"The judge was explaining that even if given the maximum of 22 years, he would probably serve substantially less based upon the information he has received from NDOC (Nevada Department of Corrections)," Vitto wrote in an e-mail Wednesday.
At the end of Lamoureux's sentencing hearing, the judge said, "If I were to give him 9½ years, the maximum sentence he could receive today, he will probably serve about six of it? Five and a half, six years. Minus the three years credit for time served, he could be getting out in 3½ years hypothetically, three to 3½ years if he gets the maximum sentence today.
"And that's not bad for shooting a cop and almost killing him and shooting at a bunch of other people. So even the maximum sentence that Mr. Vitto is arguing for today, may not necessarily be what some people in this courtroom think is just for what he did."
