Summary: A judge told a drug offender that if he went home and overdosed on drugs, he would be doing the public a favor.
Twenty-one year old Keith William Waterbeck has a lengthy criminal record of uncooperative behavior. After reviewing this record, including multiple parole violations for a domestic violence offense, a longtime judge told the man that if he died after another binge, he would be “doing society a favor.”
The defendant has asked to be placed in a court diversion program but the judge quickly replied “Well, you’re not going to help yourself” and the problem was “balancing spending the taxpayers’ money, or just letting you go out and kill yourself.”
Judge Michael L. Weigand does not regret saying this to the defendant and hopes he opened his eyes a little. He did give Waterbeck another chance by sentencing him to 30-days in a Community Based Corrections Facility rehab program that is run by the Oriana House.
Waterbeck’s record runs back to a week after he turned 18. He was charged with aggravated trespassing. He has nine additional incidents since then, including assault, drug paraphernalia, robbery, and burglary. The domestic violence case that this run-in with Weigand concerned Waterbeck assaulting his girlfriend while she was holding their child.
Photo: monarchlegal.com