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Reply With QuoteOkay, it's time to start slitting throats.
-dale
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/05/26/ju....ap/index.htmlJudge: Sex offender too short for prison
Prosecutor vows to appeal 10-year probationary sentence
LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) -- A judge's decision to sentence a 5-foot-1 man to probation instead of prison for sexually assaulting a child has angered crime victim advocates who say the punishment sends the wrong message.
But supporters of short people say it's about time someone recognizes the unique challenges they face.
Cheyenne County District Judge Kristine Cecava issued the sentence Tuesday. She told Richard W. Thompson that his crimes deserved a long prison sentence but that he was too small to survive in a state prison.
Though he could have been sentenced to 10 years behind bars, he ended up with 10 years of probation instead. On Thursday, the state's attorney general, Jon Bruning, promised to appeal within two weeks, calling the sentence far too lenient.
"I'm concerned about the message this sends to victims and perpetrators," said Marla Sohl with the Nebraska Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Coalition, adding that it shows more concern is being placed on the criminal and his safety in prison than the victim.
But Joe Mangano, secretary of the National Organization of Short Statured Adults, agreed with the judge's assessment that Thompson would face dangers while in prison because of his height.
"I'm assuming a short inmate would have a much more difficult time than a large inmate," said Mangano, who is 5 feet 4 inches tall. "It's good to see somebody looking out for someone who is a short person."
Thompson, 50, had sexual contact over a couple of months last year with a 12-year-old girl, said Sidney Police Chief Larry Cox. He was sentenced on two felony sexual assault charges.
As part of the probation, he will be electronically monitored for the first four months and was told never to be alone with someone under age 18 or date or live with a woman whose children were under 18. He was also ordered to get rid of his pornography.
Thompson's attorney, Donald Miller, had no comment on the ruling. Cheyenne County Attorney Paul Schaub, who prosecuted the case, did not return a call seeking comment. Cecava did not return a message seeking comment.
The judge's reasoning confounded Amy Miller, legal director for the Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"I have never heard of anything like this before," she said.
No one has ever come to the ACLU to complain of height discrimination, she said. And using Thompson's height as a reason to avoid sending him to prison is surprising, because neither the U.S. nor state constitution provides protections based on physical stature, she said.
A spokesman for the prison system said Thompson's height would not put him at risk among the state's 4,400 inmates. There are protections available in prison to help inmates who feel threatened, prison spokesman Steve King said, but to his knowledge, no one has ever taken advantage of them based on fears related to their height.
"He's not the shortest guy we have in prison," King said. "We've got some short guys that are as tough as nails. We've got people from all ages, physical stature of all sizes, in general population."
State Sen. Ernie Chambers, a longtime critic of judges, said he was baffled by the sentence.
"If shortness is an excuse and protection from going to prison, short people ought to rob banks and do everything else they would wind up going to prison for," Chambers said. "We're talking here about a crime committed against a child, and shortness is not a defense."
"To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch
"I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures."-Earl Warren
"I didn't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs."-Nancy Reagan, when asked a political question at a "Just Say No" rally
"He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."-Earl Butz, on the Pope's attitude toward birth control
Okay, it's time to start slitting throats.
-dale
I am starting to feel sorry for the judges. How can they sleep at night after making a ruling such as this? Are some of these judges "stuck on stupid" or what? The little bastard who was tried and convicted of a felony did not give going to prison a thought so the judge should throw him in until time served. End of story.
Look, as much as i personally think the judge probably shoulda bent the guy over the bench right then and there and brutally anally raped him in front of the entire courtroom audience for his crime, there is an obvious constitutional issue that the judge obviously felt compelled to adhere to(rightly IMO).
Namely, cruel and unusual punishment.
It is entirely reasonable to expect a sentence in state prison for this particular criminal would be cruel and unusual punishment.
I'm not really a huge fan of the 'cruel and unusual punishment' clause, but it is in there. I prefer it when judges do not discard the constitution, so this is one of those decisions we've probably just got to live with.
However, that being said, some BETTER arrangement of justice SURELY has to be available than THIS gross miscarriage of justice?
Anyone ever seen the Michael Douglass movie "The Star Chamber"?
You're not a standing member of the little man's group mentioned in the article, are you?Originally Posted by M21Sniper
I think that there are times when the cruel and unusual punishment thing needs to go - this is one of those times. What he did was not only cruel and unusual, it was sick twisted and wrong. Punishments should fit the crime and him getting a slap on the wrist was even MORE wrong.
"To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch
"I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures."-Earl Warren
"I didn't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs."-Nancy Reagan, when asked a political question at a "Just Say No" rally
"He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."-Earl Butz, on the Pope's attitude toward birth control
I'm 5'7". I would not particularly want to be in state prison, but then i don't think it much matters if you're 6'3" 250lbs. If 10 guys want you in the shower, 10 guys are going to have you in the shower.You're not a standing member of the little man's group mentioned in the article, are you?
It's a matter of simple arithmetic. In fact, in some ways i think it would be worse for the big guy because it would motivate your new 'neighbors' to bring more fellas, and well.....anyone that showed up would certainly want a turn at the poor bastard.
LOL....none if it is very pleasant to contemplate, but then i hear the butch's in female prisons are no picnic either.
lol, this is just stupid, he's short so he should be allowed to f**k kids?!
That is what the sentence is saying!
who else thought standing b l o w job, c'mon admit it...
5'1.
It does not matter if he had been 7'1, he would have had a rough time in prison. Peodophilles have torrid (and well deserved) prison time.
"Any relations in a social order will endure if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy, which qualifies life for immortality." ~ George William Russell
Read on, the judge was/ is a women.
As for the whole cruel and unusual punishmnet thing, well the rack is torture, being sent to prison for assualting children, is not.
"Any relations in a social order will endure if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy, which qualifies life for immortality." ~ George William Russell
The solution would appear not to let him off the hook, but to reform prisons as to reduce prison rape and violence, and so on.
Or just put him in solitary confinement 23 hours a day.
As for a realistic solution, the paedophile probably should have considered it, eh?
And I'm 5'4".
Last edited by HistoricalDavid; 27 May 06, at 16:09.
Let Darwin have his crack at the guy in prison. The criminal should have thought about how his height would be a disadvantage in prison. While I am not so naive as to think that this guy may have more trouble in prison, the job to ensure his safety in prison is the job of the prison authorities and not the job of the judge. She should have applied the law and then sent her reservations to the prison authorities instead of basing a sentence on a hypothetical scenario in the future while ignoring the known and completed criminal act from the past.
"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3
Publish his address...
No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry
...with picture and detail of his outrage.
When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. - Anais Nin
I think my horse whip would come in handy here....with picture and detail of his outrage.
"Any relations in a social order will endure if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy, which qualifies life for immortality." ~ George William Russell
Careful there - you are already dealing with someone sick and twisted.
"To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch
"I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures."-Earl Warren
"I didn't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs."-Nancy Reagan, when asked a political question at a "Just Say No" rally
"He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."-Earl Butz, on the Pope's attitude toward birth control
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