[blindkid] Fw: [Nfbf-l] Blind man faces attacker in court from the St. Pete Times 3/12/09

[Debby B]

Here is another article about the case in Tampa.

 Debby 



Blind man faces attacker in court
Kris Scheppe says he wanted justice and to tell the world: We are not
vulnerable.
BY BEN MONTGOMERY
Times Staff Writer
  TAMPA — Kris Scheppe, a blind man who doesn’t need your help, wanted to
see justice served.
  So on Wednesday he climbed off a Greyhound bus downtown, tapped his cane
on concrete and walked to the County Courthouse, to Courtroom 11, to a seat
beside a Hillsborough assis­tant state attorney.
  The defendant, 17-year-old Michael Watts, stood before him, in an orange
jumpsuit and shackles, biting his lip.
  Watts’ mother spoke to the judge: “He’s a very respectful child,” she
said. “I just want my son home.”
  Then his brother: “He is a good brother. He keeps us in line when we act
up.”
  Then Watts himself: “All I ask for is just one more chance.”
  Did he deserve another chance?
  Scheppe looked toward Watts, who grew up in Central Park Village, a
pub­lic housing project, with his mother and five younger siblings. He had
been waiting for this.
  Nearly two years ago, Scheppe was on his way to the National Federation of
the Blind state convention when he
asked a man for directions to the bus stop. The man punched him in the
head, dragged him to the ground, kicked him and took his belongings.
  His cane. His phone. His duffel bag, and with it his clothes, cash and
digital camera.
  Then the bandit fled, clutching a bag containing $190 that was meant to
pay for a pizza party for blind children.
  He did not know Kris Scheppe was a power lifter and a sailor, or that the
29-year-old from Fort Myers has retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited eye
disease that left him with no peripheral vision but central vision just good
enough to pick out the kid from a photo lineup.
  Nor, we must assume, did he think the police would track the first phone
call he made from the stolen cell to his mother, a mere 57 seconds after the
attack.
  Confronted with these facts, Watts pleaded guilty to robbery by sudden
snatching with force and adult abuse and faced up to five years in prison
and five years’ probation. Scheppe felt this was merited, that it would send
a mes­sage for him and for blind people everywhere: We’re not vulnerable. “I
would really like to see jus­tice done,” Scheppe told the judge. “I would
really like to see him get five years in prison.”
  The judge turned to Watts and asked him if he wished to address Scheppe.
  “All I got to say is, I mean, I’m sorry for whoever did it to you,” he
said.
  Circuit Judge Daniel H. Sleet cut him off. “You’re sitting here telling
this court that you did not beat up this young man?”
  “I’m just let­ting him know that I’m sor­ry for whoever did that to him,”
Watts said. The judge re­viewed Watts’ record. A 2005 battery charge. A 2006
charge of possession of a firearm by a minor. The 2007 ar­rest for the
attack on Scheppe. And 2008 charges — while Watts was out on bail — of
resisting a police officer and assault.
  “I don’t believe you want to change your life,” the judge said.
  “This is egregious. This is despicable.”
  The judge sentenced Watts to five years in prison and five years on
probation. He demanded that Watts spend 250 hours in service to his
community and that 150 of those hours be spent working for the Florida
Division of Blind Ser­vices.
  Watts’ mother ran from the courtroom wailing. His stepfa­ther and brothers
followed her.
  Bailiffs escorted Watts out a back door. Television cameras crowded around
Scheppe.
  What did he think of the ver­dict? What message did it send? Did this
change him?
  “Blindness is just a bit of a hin­drance that makes you do things
different,” he said. “I can’t let it stop me from doing things. If I live in
fear, it’s just going to keep me back.”
  He told them that he has begun to trust people again and that it was nice
to see justice served and that his next goal is to board a sailboat alone
and cir­cumnavigate the globe.
David Gardner, a University of Florida journalism student, contributed to
this report. Ben Montgomery can be reached at bmontgomery at sptimes.com.
WILLIEJ.ALLENJR. | Times
Kris Scheppe, left, gets a hug from friend Dave Williams after the man who
attacked him two years ago got five years in prison on Wednesday. Scheppe is
legally blind.