Following the Feb. 17 carjacking on West Penn Street in Butler that ended with a crash in Butler Township, city and township police said the suspect, David W. Robertson Jr., 27, of the Bloomfield section of Pittsburgh could be sentenced to years in prison.

Such a sentence would be appropriate, all things considered.

However, in predicting the sentence Robertson could receive, the police added an important "if." They said he could be sentenced to years in prison "if" he is convicted of the most serious pending charges.

Judging from Robertson's past brushes with the law, there is cause to question whether that will happen.

Robertson's criminal history is marked by plea bargains in which he escaped punishment for serious charges by pleading guilty to lesser ones. In the past, he has been dealt punishments of the slap-on-the-wrist variety that only have freed him to get in trouble again, despite the magnitude of some of the crimes.

It was the leniency of courts, including the Butler County Court, that allowed Robertson to be on the street on Feb. 17, when he stole a vehicle from a 39-year-old city woman at knifepoint from in front of her home, eluded police for about 12 minutes, then triggered a multi-vehicle crash at Routes 356 and 68 in the township.

Fortunately no one was critically injured or killed; the situation was ripe for such an outcome.

Over the years of Robertson's criminal history, it is amazing that, along the way, no one recognized — or at least acknowledged by way of a stiff sentence — the potentially lethal direction in which this Pittsburgh man was headed.

Robertson's criminal file lists minor crimes such as retail theft, but most notable are the serious incidents that were dealt with by the courts and district attorneys offices in a way that would be laughable, if it weren't so troubling.

Here is a man who in the past has faced the serious charges of hostage-taking, attempted homicide, rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, among others. Here also is a man who, instead of being dealt with in a no-nonsense way, had, with the agreement of prosecutors and courts, those charges reduced to making terroristic threats, simple assault, indecent assault and corruption of minors.

It's almost as if district attorneys offices and the courts were doing everything possible to keep Robertson out of jail, rather than putting him behind bars, where he belonged.

Butler County Court must not be so tolerant and forgiving regarding this latest incident, assuming that he is found guilty. And the district attorney's office here should reject any flimsy plea bargain like the kind of "punishment" Robertson has gotten in the past.

Between June 2001 and the Feb. 17 crimes, Robertson had spent six stints of time — albeit not enough — in the Butler County Prison. Since 2001, he has spent time in the Allegheny County Jail on seven separate occasions.

Yet as the crimes continued to increase in number and seriousness, no one in the criminal justice system had the sense to say "Enough!" and refuse his pleas for leniency — and then sentence him accordingly. The product of that was what happened on Feb. 17, when five occupants in other vehicles that included a school bus were injured and damage to the vehicles was extensive.

Robertson showed blatant disregard for the possibility that there might be students on the school bus. Fortunately there weren't.

Police say that Robertson is facing "years in prison if convicted of the most serious pending charges"?

The opinion of residents of Butler and Butler Township — and extending to residents of Allegheny County — should be, "We'll see."