The Associated Press headline says it all, published by hundreds of outlets: “Paul Pelosi gets 5 days in jail, 3 years of probation in DUI.”
That could cause a reasonable person to think that despite his wealth and political status, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband faced some amount of justice. After all, five days in jail and three years of probation isn’t nothing, especially for an 82-year-old man
The problem? It’s completely untrue. Or, as my liberal friends would say, it’s “misinformation.”
Reuters misexplained it further, reporting that Pelosi’s sentence included “four days’ credit for time already served in jail.” Don’t believe that, either.
So how much time did Paul Pelosi actually spend in police custody? Just seven hours and 42 minutes for his booking process.
Napa County records show that Pelosi was arrested at 11:44 p.m. on May 28 and released at 7:42 a.m. the next day. That included the ride to jail, a trip to the hospital, a blood test, his mugshot, and booking. Not exactly hard time in the joint.
For all that, Pelosi is “credited” with spending four days in jail. California law gives him credit for any part of a day, even 16 minutes. Two more days were removed from his pseudo-sentence for “good conduct,” since he didn’t shank anyone. And another day’s credit is for a future eight-hour shift in the court’s work program.
He was also given three years of probation, though. Doesn’t that mean something?
Yeah . . . no.
Pelosi was actually given “summary probation,” which means no check-ins with probation officers at all or interaction with the probation department. Essentially, it means the court can ask him if he’s completed his work program and education class.
The media were quick to correct false social media posts about Pelosi’s charges being dropped and a fake image purporting to be his mug shot, but they seem to be fine with fooling millions of Americans into believing he was actually punished for his misadventure.
California has a long history of pretending to be tough on criminals. The media has a long history of protecting Democrats.
Combine those two, and no one will blame you for thinking Paul Pelosi actually served some jail time.