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Molester’s sentence leads to cries of injustice

jamesrage

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How is it that a state such as OKlahoma were repeat child molesters (if victim 12 years old or younger) are subject to the death penalty or life in prison for the second offense suddenly become Vermont? Is the judge somehow related to Edward Cashman? States like Oklahoma should be a child molester's worst nightmare, it should be like a Texas is to convicted murderers.


McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK - Molester’s sentence leads to cries of injustice

Kathryn Cole considered it harmless horseplay when her granddaughter, who had just turned 5, reached over and touched her breast during a dinner at her home last September.

She corrected the child’s behavior anyway.

What the girl said next revealed a horrible secret that later would garner national headlines involving the granddaughter, her year-older brother and the man who was their baby-sitter.

“Gramma, it’s OK,” the girl said, according to an account the grandmother gave police. “David Earls touches me there.”

David Harold Earls, 64, a twice convicted felon, had watched the children during weekends while their mother worked.

He recently admitted raping and sodomizing the girl in return for serving one year in the county jail, with credit for time he has already spent behind bars since his arrest nine months ago.

Judge Thomas Bartheld ordered the sentence under a plea bargain agreement recommended by Earls’ lawyer and Assistant District Attorney Lisa Birdwell.

The agreement has touched off a major controversy over criminal justice in McAlester, including calls for the removal of the judge from office. The state attorney general has also launched an inquiry into the case.

Actually, the judge imposed a sentence of 20 years in prison, but he suspended 19 of those years. He also fined Earls $1,000.

“Some people think I could have given a different sentence, and I couldn’t,” said District Judge Thomas Bartheld. “In any plea bargain, where there is a negotiated plea, the court can’t change it.”
 
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The DA realizes that there is almost no case against this guy, so he and the defendant agree to a plea deal. The judge looks at the situation, realizes that there's no case, and enforces it. Then people throw a fit about the judge being "corrupt"?

Oklahoma sounds less like a child molester's worst nightmare and more like a rational person's worst nightmare.
 
Would you rather that the case had gone to trial, no conviction made, and the man avoided any punishment entirely? From the case the article presented, the DA chose the best option he had. The lack of evidence left him in a weak bargaining position. At least the man is now recognized for what he is.
 
Whats new?
Maybe he'll kill some kid in a year. Bury him/her alive in a garbage bag.


Solution-
Ken McElroy
 
Not without causing an absolute uproar that would lead to his removal from the bench.

Where are you getting this from? Judges reject plea deals all the time. The reason why he didn't do so here is that it sounds like it was an eminently reasonable deal.
 
Where are you getting this from? Judges reject plea deals all the time. The reason why he didn't do so here is that it sounds like it was an eminently reasonable deal.

I agree. I had read about this earlier this week, particularly where the daughter (whose testimony would be required to bring this to trial) stated he had not done anything to her. The DA would risk the charges being completely dropped and then this guy serves no time.

The guy is a complete scumbag, and I hope he gets his due when he is in jail.
 
The guy is a complete scumbag, and I hope he gets his due when he is in jail.

The problem is he is going to be released this december.
After admitting he raped the lil girl he got a plea deal.. he got a fine of $1,000 and the sentence reduced by 19 years...to 1 year.

1 year and $1,000 of an intitial 20 year sentence for one of the two alledged molestations.

He was already a felon on top of it.

Its absurd.



article-

He recently admitted raping and sodomizing the girl in return for serving one year in the county jail, with credit for time he has already spent behind bars since his arrest nine months ago.
 
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The problem is he is going to be released this december.
After admitting he raped the lil girl he got a plea deal.. he got a fine of $1,000 and the sentence reduced by 19 years...to 1 year.

1 year and $1,000 of an intitial 20 year sentence for one of the two alledged molestations.

He was already a felon on top of it.

Its absurd.



article-

Oh, I hear your disgust and agree with it wholeheartedly. I don't have an understanding of how they came to the $1000 fine. It does seem too low. And the suspension of the majority of the sentence--I don't understand that either.

I believe that inmates have a particular hatred toward child molesters and that he would need to be in jail for less than a week to receive his "due." *crosses fingers*
 
Oh, I hear your disgust and agree with it wholeheartedly. I don't have an understanding of how they came to the $1000 fine. It does seem too low. And the suspension of the majority of the sentence--I don't understand that either.

I believe that inmates have a particular hatred toward child molesters and that he would need to be in jail for less than a week to receive his "due." *crosses fingers*

He has already served 9 months of that time.
 
He has already served 9 months of that time.

Look, I need to hope that he's going to get his due because if what he did to that little girl is true, he deserves to be sodomized himself.
 
Look, I need to hope that he's going to get his due because if what he did to that little girl is true, he deserves to be sodomized himself.

Change we can agree on.
:spin:
 
The problem is he is going to be released this december.
After admitting he raped the lil girl he got a plea deal.. he got a fine of $1,000 and the sentence reduced by 19 years...to 1 year.

1 year and $1,000 of an intitial 20 year sentence for one of the two alledged molestations.

He was already a felon on top of it.

Its absurd.

article-

The problem is the admitting of it came as part of the plea deal, which was agreed upon because of the 1 year thing. I think it sucks, greatly, but if anything it should be more a call against the DA who couldn't put a case together than the Judge. Sometimes a situation like this just sucks, and its not really anyones fault, its just the way our legal system works. Much like sometimes the freedom of speech means we must bare the brunt of hateful speech, sometimes innocent until proven guilty can bite us in the ass too.
 
The problem is he is going to be released this december.
After admitting he raped the lil girl he got a plea deal.. he got a fine of $1,000 and the sentence reduced by 19 years...to 1 year.
1 year and $1,000 of an intitial 20 year sentence for one of the two alledged molestations.
He was already a felon on top of it.
Its absurd.
article-
nvm, see above
 
Much like sometimes the freedom of speech means we must bare the brunt of hateful speech, sometimes innocent until proven guilty can bite us in the ass too.

Aye, but it can't be any other way.
 
The parents hired a 64 year-old male babysitter for their young children?
 
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