Some could say justice is served, whereas others could consider the punishment is just too harsh for the crime, even one in every of this scale. Richard Finley, proprietor of Traditional American Road Rods close to Galveston, Texas, has appealed his felony theft conviction for property theft higher than $300,000, studies The Auto Wire. He’s at the moment serving a 60-year jail sentence.
Finley was arrested in 2023 for mishandling prospects’ basic automobiles and the cash to work on them. In accordance with ABC 13, his enterprise specialised in engine upgrades, swapping engines out for extra trendy ones, with improved energy and reliability. However slightly than performing the work, Finley stored the automobiles, together with varied automobile elements valued at about $2 million, together with almost $500,000 he had been paid to carry out the work. One other a part of Finley’s scheme was taking elements off the automobiles that had been entrusted to him, then promoting these elements to unsuspecting prospects. Finley had moved the automobiles out of his store to numerous off-site areas, however the lengthy arm of the legislation caught up with him at a storage unit containing 24 automobiles, which have since been returned to their house owners.
On the trial, which passed off in December 2025, prosecutors referred to as 28 of Finley’s 72 victims to testify in opposition to him. They instructed comparable tales of being requested to pay massive quantities of cash for the work up entrance, then the work not being carried out for months, and even years. Officers stated Finley would lie concerning the standing of the work when prospects confronted him. It took solely every week for a jury to search out Finley responsible. In January 2026, Decide Jeth Jones sentenced him to 60 years in jail and to pay almost half one million {dollars} in restitution to the victims.
The precise to attraction
On precisely what grounds Finley is interesting, we do not know. Whereas his legal professionals reportedly filed an attraction the identical day he was convicted, they’ve nonetheless not filed their opening transient, regardless of a number of extensions to take action.
It might appear that an attraction could be a waste of time, given the quantity of proof introduced in opposition to Finley. An attraction just isn’t a brand new trial, although, in line with the Division of Justice. As a substitute, it appears for authorized errors within the trial report, or errors the decide or prosecution could have made. Finley might also be interesting for a diminished sentence. 60 years is a very long time, nearly actually the remainder of Finley’s life — he is now 51 years outdated. And what Finley did was mistaken, however killing somebody for pulling into the mistaken driveway is arguably a lot worse, and the shooter could function little as 25 years for that.
Some, reminiscent of Finley’s prospects, could really feel this lengthy sentence is completely honest, particularly after having their basic automobiles stolen. As Sammy Davis, Jr. stated, “Do not do the crime if you cannot do the time.” However there’s positively a spot between Finley’s sentence and the sentences (or fines) leveled in opposition to different thieves we have seen lately. Whereas the decide who presided over his case thought of 60 years an inexpensive sentence, an appeals court docket may even see it otherwise.
