Jordan Valdez Gets Away With Murder

She’s not a woman as reported in a local newspaper. She’s not a responsible teenager. She’s a cheerleader. She killed someone. She’s a “good person”. And how would you feel if it were your 16 going-on-seventeen year old daughter? You would do all within your means to support her regardless of her actions.

Counterpoint: How would she react if her mother were a victim of the same action by another 16 year old who happened to be fiddling around with a CD player?

Highlight that question before making a comment about forgiving Jordan for an unforgivable act of criminal irresponsibility.

The victim, a homeless woman and of apparent little consequence, is nothing more than a victim of circumstance. I imagine her crime was jaywalking and would be fined for the infraction. But she’s no longer of the living.

Little bitty pretty one, Jordan Valdez, may not get off totally scot-free but for failing to come forth for nothing other than what is apparently deemed little more than poor judgment she may only receive an ineffective slap on the hand for a first-degree felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. No big deal, no prison sentence, just an asterisk in a life where she’ll eventually laugh again and be gainfully employed following a Bright Future scholarship.

The dead woman, Melissa Sjostrom, was only twice Jordan’s age. I guess there’s not much else to be said about the inconsequential life of someone whose last name is difficult to pronounce. Maybe the S is as silent as the voice Melissa? Whatever, right?

Maybe someone is curious to wonder what type of teenager Melissa had been. Maybe someone else is inquisitive enough to ask why she was a homeless nobody? Perhaps someone else would like to find out why her surviving family members hadn’t given her a place to live instead of wandering the streets at 8:30 pm the night of the vehicular incident.

It certainly appears some form of lawful forgiveness of Jordan’s reckless actions was in the making for months. She committed the crime February 8 but didn’t turn herself in to the police until July 9 – five months and one day after the fact. In April she was cited for reckless driving but the case was dropped when the detective didn’t show up to testify! It’s a case of law un-enforcement.

The case was closed until the St. Petersburg Times questioned the investigation of the hit-and-run incident. Otherwise, it would have remained inconsequential and merely an unfortunate incidental. And yet, in a Times editorial, the paper wrote in support of forgiveness, professing “at last justice will be served” because “it would serve no rational purpose to incarcerate a woman whose you life holds the potential for a promising future.”

Jordan is not a woman. Neither is she and adult but, like many other cases that result in the death of a person, she is being charged as an adult. Of course, that could change for whatever purpose and certainly in favor of sparing the her a life from what would otherwise have been considered an unjust future behind bars.

Assuming you don’t subscribe to the Times, the front-page picture on July 10 pictured Jordan with a tight-fitting top with her face positioned partially away from the camera, hair slightly drooping over her left eye with a ponytail hanging pretty. Her mother, Kim, was standing behind her daughter with a supportive look, grinning. The mug shot of Jordan, with the story continued on page 5, showed a very calm and collected girl.

The Tampa Tribune front-page photo showed a different picture – pouty-faced as she was shown being guided by a police officer. It’s probably the only time she has, or will be, seen without a loving, forgiving family member or a lawyers standing protectively by her side.
Below the picture, there was mention that Eddie Suarez, the attorney for Robert Valdez, Jordan’s father, said she was “embarrassed by the fact she panicked and left the scene.”

Embarrassed? Is that a word Jordan will use in a promised letter of apology to Melissa’s family?

Also consider that on-line Internet photos of Jordan that were of a person showing little remorse. In fact, she was no doubt posing for the cameras.

Should I also mention that cheerleading Jordan is a student at the elitist school Academy of the Holy Names? A few Hail Mary’s will absolve her. She lives in a Davis Island neighborhood where home prices range from $500,000 to over $2-million. Jordan spent 20 minutes in jail, a $15,000 bail bond ready to be paid in full – money no object.

Jordan’s attorney, Ty Trayner, may be relishing his representation with grand visions of becoming another Johnny Cochran. A future priced for success.

I seem to have forgotten the name of the victim? But, who really cares?