10 Horrible Criminals Who Got Off Easy

10 Horrible Criminals Who Got Off Easy

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today were looking at ten criminals who got frustratingly lenient sentences despite their horrible crimes.

Brock Turner

People v. Turner is regarded as one of the great injustices of the 21st century, and for good reason. The story dates back to January 2015, when Stanford student Brock Turner was caught with the unconscious Chanel Miller. Two grad students intervened and held Turner until police arrived, and he was convicted on three felony charges related to sexual assault. Despite facing a maximum sentence of fourteen years, Judge Aaron Persky went exceptionally easy on Turner and sentenced him to just six months. To make matters even worse, Turner was out in three for good behavior. The sentence sparked widespread outrage, with many believing that Turner got off owing to his race and upper-class status. In retaliation, voters recalled, or fired, Judge Persky in 2018.

Jeffrey Epstein

While Epstein is widely known for his 2019 arrest and subsequent death, he was also the source of a major controversy in the mid 2000s. Back in 2005, Epstein was the focus of a major police investigation after reports that he was repeatedly committing sexual abuse at his Palm Beach mansion. The FBI ultimately identified 36 victims that were targeted by Epstein. However, he avoided federal charges by striking a plea deal that was approved by U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta. Epstein was sentenced to just eighteen months and was granted a work release program, allowing him to leave the jail for up to twelve hours a day, six days a week. He was ultimately released after serving just thirteen months.

Robert Durst

Heir to a real estate empire, Robert Durst was likely responsible for murdering his wife, Kathleen McCormack in 1982. Then in 2000, he murdered his longtime friend Susan Berman, supposedly because she was about to speak to police about Kathleens disappearance. The next year, he killed and dismembered a man named Morris Black, though he was later acquitted after claiming self-defense. Durst avoided prosecution for years and seemed to get away with all three crimes - for a while, at least. It wasnt until The Jinx in 2015 that his case received widespread attention and ignited further scrutiny. Durst was ultimately convicted of Bermans murder in 2021 and sentenced to life, but by then he was already 78 years old. He died about four months after his conviction.

Friedrich Flick

A German industrialist, Friedrich Flick was deeply involved in the Nazi war economy and was complicit in a number of war crimes through his industrial activity. Flick was a major financial contributor to the Nazi Party, plundered and seized a number of industries in occupied territories, and utilized tens of thousands of forced laborers, many of whom were subjected to inhumane conditions. He was ultimately tried at Nuremberg and was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, receiving seven years in prison. He served only three and was released in 1950, whereupon he rebuilt his fortune, was awarded numerous honors, and resumed his enormous influence in German business. He ultimately died in 1972 as one of the wealthiest men in West Germany.

William Calley

The United States committed an infamous war crime on March 16, 1968, when Army soldiers slaughtered hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in the village of Sn M. William Calley led 1st Platoon in C Company into the village and was the only soldier convicted, being found guilty of the premeditated murder of 22 unarmed villagers. He was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor, but Richard Nixon personally intervened and ordered his release from prison pending appeal. Further military appeals and staunch political pressure reduced his life sentence to house arrest, of which he served just three years. He led a quiet life after his release and died in 2024 at the age of 80.

Courtney Hackney

In May 2017, Courtney Hackney was in the home of Holly Barnett when she bludgeoned her to death with a baseball bat. Hackney was brought up on murder charges, but her first case ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict. A retrial was scheduled, but a key witness became unavailable, prompting prosecutors to dismiss the charges with the intention of refiling them later. However, because the charges were voluntarily dismissed and because Hackney had not legally consented to a retrial, double jeopardy protections barred prosecutors from refiling the charges. As a result, the case was permanently dismissed, and Hackney was allowed to walk free.

Karla Homolka

In the 1990s, Karla Homolka was involved with her then-husband Paul Bernardo in the deaths of three young women. Two of them - Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French - were kidnapped and murdered. The third was Homolkas own sister Tammy, whom Homolka and Bernardo drugged and assaulted. She eventually died by choking on her own vomit. Following their arrest, Homolka was offered a highly controversial plea deal in exchange for testifying against Bernardo. The Canadian public referred to this as the Deal with the Devil, because the full extent of her involvement had not been known when the agreement was drawn up. In the end, Homolka served just twelve years and was allowed to walk free, where she then moved to Montreal and started a family.

Roy Bryant & J.W. Milam

On August 28, 1955, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam committed one of the most infamous hate crimes in American history. Thats when they abducted Emmett Till, a Black teenager, from his great-uncles home, allegedly because Till had whistled at and flirted with Bryants white wife. They savagely beat Till, shot him in the head, and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River. His mangled and unrecognizable body was found three days later. Bryant and Milam were arrested and charged with Tills murder, but despite overwhelming evidence - like openly admitting that they took Till from the house - the all-white and all-male jury acquitted both. They later admitted to murdering Till, but they were protected by double jeopardy and never faced legal repercussions.

Issei Sagawa

On June 11, 1981, Japanese student Issei Sagawa murdered his classmate Renée Hartevelt and cannibalized parts of her body. A French judge found Sagawa legally insane and unfit to stand trial, and he was committed to a mental institution. But in 1984, Sagawa was deported to Japan, and because the charges against Sagawa were dropped in France, they were unable to send the sealed court documents to Japan. As such, Japanese prosecutors lacked the evidence needed to press charges. After just fifteen months in Japanese custody, Sagawa was declared sane and released. He proceeded to live his life as a free man and even profited off his crime by writing books, appearing in films, and granting interviews.

Pedro López

One of historys most prolific serial killers could be out there right now, freely walking the streets after serving his time in prison. That man is Pedro López, or The Monster of the Andes, who murdered at least 110 people between 1969 and 1980. And while he was convicted of 110 murders, López personally confessed to killing over 300. Ecuador does not impose life sentences, and in 1980, the maximum was sixteen years. So thats what López got. Even worse, he was released two years early for good behavior. So fourteen years for murdering 110 people. He was later placed in a Colombian mental institution but was released for good in 1998 after being found sane. He subsequently disappeared and has never been seen since.

What do you make of these injustices? Let us know in the comments below!