LAWYER CLAIMS TAX CHEAT CLIENT IS TOO FAT FOR PRISON

The attorney for a 72-year-old Florida man who was convicted in a tax scheme says his client is too fat for prison. Stephen Donaldson was sentenced last week in Tampa for his part in peddling an offshore tax shelter that cost the IRS an estimated $10 million. His lawyer Curtis Fallgatter wrote in a court filing that Donaldson doesn’t have an average man’s life expectancy because he’s 5-foot-9 and weighs 273 pounds. For that reason, the attorney wrote, it’s not right to make him serve 6 years and four months in prison because that prison term could translate to 61 percent of Donaldson’s remaining time on earth.
* So in other words, it’s not fair when, say, a 24-year-old murderer and a 60-year-old murderer both get sentenced to life in prison? This is a real Brain Teaser.
* There’s a fix for being too fat for prison. It’s called prison.
* He wouldn’t be the first person to get slimmer in the slammer.
* Plus, when he gets out as a trim 78-year-old, he’ll be in good shape for the dating scene.
* Sadly, without all the treats and ice cream and pizza, those six years are going to feel like 20.