Judge: Probation for du Pont heir in 3 year old daughter's rape
You would think that there would be some crimes so heinous the wealthy couldn't buy their way out of prison time, but this proves that wrong.
Since this judge doesn't think this guy belongs in prison, maybe she should take his place. Seriously, she should be investigated and removed from the bench.
Court records show that in Judge Jan Jurdens sentencing order for Robert H. Richards IV she considered unique circumstances when deciding his punishment for fourth-degree rape. Her observation that prison life would adversely affect Richards confused several criminal justice authorities in Delaware, who said that her view that treatment was a better idea than prison is typically used when sentencing drug addicts, not child rapists.
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Defender Brendan J. ONeill, whose office represents defendants who normally cannot afford a lawyer. Prison is to punish, to segregate the offender from society, and the notion that prison serves people well hasnt proven to be true in most circumstances.
ONeill explained that he has previously argued that case if a defendant was too ill or frail for prison, but he had never seen a judge cite it as a reason not to send someone to jail.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/30/judge-probation-for-du-pont-heir-in-dghter-rpe-because-he-would-not-fare-well-in-prison/
exboyfil
(17,862 posts)Delaware judges may be removed in one of two ways:
Judges may be impeached by a majority of the house of representatives and convicted by two thirds of the senate.
Judges may be removed, retired, or disciplined by a two-thirds vote of the court on the judiciary.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)exboyfil
(17,862 posts)Cris Barrish · Follow · Top Commenter · Investigative reporter at the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal at Delawareonline
As the author of this story and the senior reporter at The News Journal, I can tell you that police and prosecutors did not issue a release and when it went to court no one here was informed about the case. You could make the argument that we should know about every arrest and plea bargain, but sadly that is not true. We definitely would have reported on this if we had been informed, or if we were tipped off about it, investigated and published a story. It's a shame that this disgusting crime had to wait this long to see the light of day. Ii can tell you that we will now continue investigating what happened and will happen. Stay tuned, readers.
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2014/03/18/du-pont-heir-faces-child-sex-lawsuit/6565107/
Beau Biden was AG when this case was going on.
The press dropped the ball on this case as well.