Should Wilbanks Be Prosecuted?

Runaway Bride May Face Charges; What Do YOU Think?

(CBS)  "She deserves to be punished," says Murphy. "I'm not saying she should go to prison. She should be prosecuted, she should be on probation, and during her probationary period, she should be made to pay back all the money that she cost taxpayers."

Murphy pointed out that the "entire country is watching this case. There is a question now, can you get away with this sort of behavior? And we all need to hear that the answer to that question is, 'Absolutely not.' Not because we are worried about runaway brides, but we are worried about message sending. People need to hear that this behavior is unacceptable. I don't think she should be locked up, but she needs to be prosecuted and it is the best way to get the money back. …She doesn't get a pass because she's wealthy or cute."

"Frankly," Murphy added, "I think there is a fair amount of gender bias going on here. If this was a guy who did this, who caused this sort of harm, no one would be feeling bad for him. They'd be saying, 'Lock him up.' We have to be fair and even-handed here. She should be prosecuted."

To which Allred responded, "I totally disagree. You know, there are a lot of runaway dads out there who cross state lines and don't pay their child support and should, and that is a crime. Many of them are never prosecuted. This is not to say that it's right. But come on. I don't see any gender bias here. This is a woman who was obviously going through some kind of meltdown. She did a stupid thing. But a lot of people do stupid things before they get married and a lot of us have done stupid things after we get married. That doesn't mean she should be put in handcuffs and sent to jail."