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10 weird criminal sentences

Check out these 10 court cases where judges have done more than sentence the guilty to a fine or jail time.

17-year-old sentenced to 10 years in church

  • By Laura Edwins Contributor

17-year-old Tyler Alred pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a Tulsa Oklahoma court in November 2012. Alred crashed a pickup truck in December of 2011. The passenger in the truck, Alred's friend, 16-year-old John Luke Dum, was killed in the crash. Alred had been drinking at the time of the crash, and while he was not drunk, he was still considered to have been driving under the influence because he was underage.

Dum's family reportedly viewed the incident as an accident; his sister Caitlin Dum told the Muskogee Phoenix, “We don’t need to see two lives wasted for a mistake.”

Judge Mike Norman was accordingly lenient with Alred's sentence, giving him a list of conditions to meet over the next 10 years in order to stay out of prison. Alred must graduate from high school; graduate from welding school; take drug, alcohol, and nicotine tests for a year; wear a drug and alcohol bracelet, take part in victim's impact panels, and - most unusually - attend church for the next 10 years.

Alred's lawyer stated the sentence wouldn't be a problem; that her client already attends church every Sunday.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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