Thomas Maslin was walking home through Washington, D.C.'s Eastern Market from a Washington Nationals game one August night last year. Three guys, kids, really, jumped him, hit him in the head repeatedly with an aluminum baseball bat (the irony is disgusting), and robbed him of his bank card, his phone and keys.
I hope those kids think it was worth it. They robbed someone else in the Adams Morgan section of D.C. just hours after attacking Maslin.
Maslin suffers from brain damage as a result of the attack, as well as limited use of the limbs on one side of his body. He can't see out of his left eye. He cannot read his 2 year-old son a bedtime story. He can't walk properly. There is a whole list of things he can't do anymore.
One of the three kids got more than 24 years for his part in the assault. Another kid's trial starts next week. The third kid pled guilty to his part in the attack and probably got a nice break for testifying against his friend, because that's how our legal system rolls.
People, this is why we can't have nice things. Envy, hate, greed, those things are definitely a factor in this awful crime. But more than that, I really wonder when parents stopped parenting and teaching their kids the difference between right and wrong. As in, it's wrong to beat a (wo)man. It's wrong to steal. This is basic stuff. I can only imagine the horrid home lives these kids must have had. Cracked out parents, maybe they were beat themselves - I can only speculate. Not that this is an excuse. But crime begets crime, so I have to wonder what these kids suffered to make them so cruel, so disrespectful, so covetous. Maybe they had it good growing up and somewhere they went wrong with no one to correct them.
And the ringleader gets 24 years, give or take. He should get life. He basically killed a man and ruined a family. The absolute worst part? This was not a unique crime.
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