Incident in Grand Island prompts Questions: Police Misconduct or Criminal Action?

After reading about police brutality and misconduct, I found this article in the Grand Island Independent to be very interesting. Seth Wilkinson of Grand Island, NE, pleaded no contest to second-degree assault, reduced from attempted second-degree murder, on April 19, 2010, for an incident that included an off-duty Grand Island police officer. It was presented in court that the facts of the incident, where the off-duty police officer was stabbed int he neck by Wilkinson, were "ambiguous" on the night of November 27th, 2008. According to Wilkinson's attorney, the police officer "made contact with Wilkinson and spoke to him in a way, that Wilkinson's mind, was 'not friendly'" (Grand Island Independent). Wilkinson also claimed the off duty police officer continued to take actions that made him assume he planned to do him harm. The prosecutor for the case asked for Wilkinson to do prison time, as he presented to the court that Wilkinson has used marijuana and alcohol since the incident and that he has unsuccessfully served two probations in the past. In the end the judge sentenced Wilkinson with three to five years in prison for the incident.

What are your first impressions about this incident? Do your first impressions change after knowing that Wilkinson was invovled in a tiff with a female and kicked out of a bar prior to the incident with the off-duty police officer? After reading the article do you feel that the incident was handled differently because it involved a police officer? Do you believe that Wilkinson's past involvements with the law had an impact on the outcome of the case?