Dallas judge who asked victim if she cried during rape has recused herself from case

[RandySF]

First some background provided in a great Dkos post:

1. A 14-year old girl is raped by 18-year old self-confessed rapist.
2. Judge gives rapist only 45-day jail sentence after facing 20 years.
3. Judge defers rapist's 5-year probation - no need for him to get any help.
4. Judge orders rapist to do community service at rape crisis center.
5. Judge asks victim during trial, several times, if she cried during the rape.
6. Judge tells press, "She's not the victim she claims to be." - not a virgin.
Now go back to #1 where it says, 'girl is raped'.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/03/1296542/-Dallas-Judge-Asks-Victim-If-She-Cried-During-Rape-5-More-Actions-That-Make-This-Judge-Unfit


Now the recusal:

State District Judge Jeanine Howard has recused herself from the case of a rapist she sentenced to five years probation.

Howard’s decision came Friday in reaction to the fallout from last week’s sentence for 20-year-old Sir Young, who admitted to raping a 14-year-old girl at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where both were students. Young was 18 at the time of the 2011 assault.

n addition to the sentence, Young does not have to stay away from children, attend sex offender treatment, undergo sex offender evaluation or refrain from watching pornography.

Howard told The Dallas Morning News that she gave Young his light sentence in part because his victim wasn’t a virgin and “wasn’t the victim she claimed to be.” She declined to comment Friday beyond the statements she made Thursday night.

After Howard’s recusal, the case is now assigned to state District Judge Carter Thompson.


http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/dallas-judge-recuses-herself-from-case-of-admitted-rapist-sentenced-to-probation.html/

[dionysus]

1. wow, that's seriously one fucked up judge...

[edhopper]

2. Appointed by Bush

or Perry no doubt.

[dionysus]

4. i expect sexism from a RW judge usually, but the female misogynists particularly creep me out.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

24. Me too.

[840high]

26. Unfortunately - elected Dem

[dionysus]

27. ewww. :(

[lunasun]

34. +1

[malokvale77]

5. She's an elected Democrat

One of two Democratic judges that will not be getting my vote in November

[edhopper]

6. That is

dreadful.

[malokvale77]

7. What is dreadful?

Her being a Democrat or me not voting for her? LOL

[edhopper]

23. Her being a Dem

Of course. And it's too bad you don't have a candidate to vote for as well.

[malokvale77]

40. Yes

A blank slate on my ballot.

[Dorian Gray]

25. That makes me want to vomit

I can't believe she asked the young girl repeatedly if she cried.

[malokvale77]

42. It is sick

the Democratic party abandoned Texas decades ago. Anybody in Dallas can put a "D" by their name and get elected.

It's why I never vote a straight ticket. Another bad judge is Lynn Cherry. What a joke she is. Statewide we have the LaRouche candidate, running on the Dem ticket. It all makes the Democratic party look bad.

Wendy Davis is great, but the DGA won't back her. I think there is an agreement to let big oil and big business have Texas.

Vet these candidates, please.

[Warpy]

8. She's trying to convince herself she could never be a victim

You see a lot of this at work with women on juries, "what did she do to cause this that I can/do avoid?"

Shaming and blaming women for their own rape has to stop. Men are the perpetrators 99.99% of the time. Men are the ones who have to figure out how to stop this.

We're only the shattered remains of what a rapist leaves behind.

[RandySF]

11. Are you letting her off the hook?

The perp admitted to being a rapist and Jeanine Howard was in a position to impose a sentence that fit the crime. To say that women are incapable of making sound legal judgements re. sexual crimes is to argue that they cannot hold judicial office (and we both know it's not true). And no one has asked whether she was so lax because the victim was likely African American.

[enough]

15. No warpy is not letting her off the hook. She is talking about how such a travesty

could happen. We all have the tendency to think that anything we know, everybody else knows also. The fact is that many people currently alive, both male and female, are still living under the old conditioning about rape.

[Warpy]

16. Of course not. She needed to back away from this case because she botched it.

I've just tried to understand women like this and I think I do. I've picked their brains long enough.

Lawyers, especially for the prosecution, need to acknowledge this phenomenon and figure out how to address it. Their conviction rate on rapists is dismal.

[Liberal_in_LA]

35. plus 1000

[tblue37]

3. Unfortunately, she runs for election as a Dem. nt

[gollygee]

9. Rape culture is bigger than one political party

Or one gender.

[nomorenomore08]

19. Which is why it's so frustrating when people dismiss these discussions as "male bashing."

Most of us, regardless of gender, have nothing to lose and everything to gain from an honest look at things.

[gollygee]

21. +1

[niyad]

10. disgustingly enough, the war against women is sometimes fought by women.

[Cal Carpenter]

41. The war against women is systemic

Simply having women working within the system doesn't change the system.

It may help, particularly if those women are consciously challenging it, but it doesn't stop it, and those who do challenge it are often discredited and marginalized at the least, more likely punished/demoted/fired.

[spanone]

12. she should have been removed without any chance of recusing herself

jeeeeebus

[RandySF]

13. Has anyone asked whether the victims race was a factor?

[TorchTheWitch]

22. why?

The rapist is black. She had no problem giving a black man who admitted to being a rapist such a light sentence while blaming the victim whatever her race. What's your point about the race of the victim? Trying to make this a racist issue instead of the sexist one it so obviously is?

[awoke_in_2003]

28. I wonder if the victim was white...

Nope, probably not- he would have got 20 years then.

[DonViejo]

29. ^^^ + 1,000 ^^^ eom

[awoke_in_2003]

31. I see you're in Cleveland...

I lived there from 13-24. Moved to Texas in 1992. I really miss C town sometimes (especially in autumn- a season we don't have here).

[DonViejo]

32. Left Cleveland in 69...was just there a month ago for Dad's 87th...

What a city. Definitely NOT the city of the 60's and early 70's. I'm very proud of my hometown.

[awoke_in_2003]

33. My hometown is Steubenville...

so of course I tell everyone it's Cleveland

[Jefferson23]

14. Twisted, disturbing, get this judge off the bench, for good. n/t

[nomorenomore08]

17. Any way they can revoke the probation and give him a 5-year sentence instead? n/t

[RandySF]

18. I'm sure the sentence will be appealed.

Even the DA may not agree to it.

[nomorenomore08]

20. I sure hope so. The guy needs to be put away for a few years at the least.

More so because his current (lack of a) sentence is a likely signal to others that they can rape with impunity.

[DonViejo]

30. It would be interesting to research the Judge's record...

with rape cases, spousal abuse cases too.

[LisaL]

36. Seriously?

She wants him to do community service at a rape crisis center?

[nomorenomore08]

39. I guess she wants him to "learn a lesson." And who cares if he terrorizes others in the process?

[LeftishBrit]

37. How disgusting. Somehow seems even worse coming from a female judge.

[sakabatou]

38. WTF

[Texasgal]

43. and Rape culture does not exist

RiGHT???