Justice can’t be done

Justice can’t be done

No mercy. That is what robbers showed a restaurant manager they ambushed, shot and left for dead in Youngstown last Monday. It is what the legal system should show for the criminals.

A WRTA bus camera captured a dramatic series of images showing an automobile purposely running into the car of Joseph Kaluza, a 42-year-old manager of a KFC restaurant. Minutes later, Kaluza was shot in cold blood and robbed of a money bag containing restaurant receipts.

This was not a spur-of-the-moment crime. It was planned, even rehearsed, and executed without regard for human life or human dignity. And if it had not been for the bus surveillance video and tips police received from witnesses, the robbers might have even gotten away with their crime — or at least would have eluded capture for more than four days.

No plea bargains

Had Kaluza died, this would have been a death penalty case. He survived, but is said to be paralyzed from the neck down, making this a case in which prosecutors should use the evidence they have to seek convictions and sentencing to the fullest extent of the law for attempted aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and whatever other charges can apply. The criminals who did this deserve to spend the rest of their lives in prison, which, given the limits of the law, appears unlikely.

Kaluza was a guy working hard — ask anyone who has managed a small restaurant — to provide for his family. He was living by the rules when two or more people conspired to rob him of a few hundred dollars, consequences be damned.

This case once again raises an issue that has caused concern in this community before, and that is the ability of criminals to game the probation system. The man accused of shooting Kaluza had been given probation on a theft case in March 2006, probation on an assault case in April 2006 and was recently the subject of a restraining order growing out of a domestic dispute. He shouldn’t have even been on the street.