If someone killed one of your loved ones, would you be happy if they were sentenced to a mere handful of years? Probably not, right? Well, that’s exactly what happened to the killer of an Oakland baker, who was sentenced to only seven years in prison.
20-year-old Ishmael Burch was sentenced this week over the killing of a social justice activist and baker, 48-year-old Jen Angel, in February, 2023. Burch pleaded no contest to charges of robbery and voluntary manslaughter.
Family members of the victim, however, applauded the mild sentencing of the killer. Incredibly, equally progressive members of the late activist’s family applauded the judge’s decision and said that Jen, were she still alive, wouldn’t want to see the killer “waste away in prison for decades.”
It’s the kind of thing you might expect to hear from a victim’s family if the killing was a tragic accident – but it wasn’t. In February last year, Burch and another perpetrator attempted to snatch Angel’s purse. The baker attempted to get her purse back from the two men, chasing after their getaway car and getting stuck in the door. The men continued to drive the vehicle, dragging Angel some 50 feet along the road and killing her in the process. Angel’s head was crushed as Burch attempted to flee the scene, and while she was not pronounced dead on the scene, she passed away two days later in the hospital after spending some time in a coma.
The story hit international headlines last year when family members, who cited the deceased baker’s “anarchist” political beliefs, said that prosecutors should do all they can to avoid normal prosecution methods for the perpetrator, who happened to be Black. In a GoFundMe page established by the family, Angel was described as someone who “did not believe in state violence, carceral punishment, or incarceration as an effective or just solution to social violence and inequality.”
Is this justice to you? We’re not so sure…
