Credit the UPoR for probably unintentionally highlighting an absolutely bizarre criminal justice disconnect.

The entire weight of the federal government came down on two MS-13 gang members who were involved in what observers — prosecutors included — say was the accidental, non-life threatening shooting of a teen-age girl. The details:

The victim, sophomore Amari Boyd, was hit in the leg as she and a group of other students happened upon a fistfight in a parking lot near Independence Boulevard at Conference Drive.

Gabriel “Smiley” Cisneros, 19, and Danny Hernandez Jiminez, 20, both of Charlotte, were arrested shortly after the shooting, and authorities said they later admitted involvement with MS-13, a gang of immigrants from El Salvador and their descendants.

On Thursday, Cisneros pleaded guilty to attempted murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a dangerous weapon, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

He could face a sentence of life in prison.

Jiminez pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

OK. Bad guys. Gunplay in the streets. Four rounds squeezed off in the heat of a fist-fight with some gang rivals. Put ’em in jail. But compare the charges and penalty with this other Charlotte shoot ’em up.

Three guys jump a cabbie, rob him, and shoot him in the head. The victim may lose his eyesight as a result.

Yet this wholly local, non gang-related prosecution — whatever the hell “gang-related” has come to mean — does not even include a single attempted murder charge against any of the three suspects arrested in connection with the attack. Instead, Sammy Junior Davis, 21, Romain Don-Lee Davis, 18, and Josiah Les Corey Knox, 17 all face assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury; robbery with a dangerous weapon; and conspiracy charges. These are felony charges to be sure, but none are an attempted murder charge, which is certainly what the facts indicate was the intent.

More broadly, which group of perps represents the greater threat to the law abiding citizenry of Charlotte? I think random thugs looking for cash via any means are at least as grave a threat to the populace as MS-13 is with the gang’s machismo battles and vice-running operations. The difference is that MS-13 gives good copy to US Attorneys looking to convince the public they are doing something. That and the application of federal RICO laws makes for slam-dunk convictions.

Merely ad hoc bloodthirsty thugs get handled by the haphazard state court system, which as applied in Mecklenburg, pleads everything but first-degree murder down to a walk.

In other words, you are on your own, citizen.