The further this goes...the sicker I get for "Texas Just-Us" (follow-up)

[Horse with no Name]

This was the original story:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5057034
And then there was the follow-up:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5159620

And now...sigh...there is this new article. It kind of wraps it all up in a nice big pretty bow. :cry:
I sure hope that there is a court SOMEWHERE who will stop the madness of this idiot judge.
http://theparisnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=4fab58f0b021e5c8
>>>snip
Sixth District Court Judge Eric Clifford rejected a defense plea Tuesday for a new trial for convicted sex offender Aaron Hart, 18, who was sentenced to 100 years in prison Feb. 13 on five counts of sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child.
>>>>snip
Hart’s appeals attorney, David Pearson, asked the court to throw out Hart’s conviction and sentence on the grounds of ineffective counsel in the original trial.
>>>snip
Hart called Paris High School principal Gary Preston and PHS special education teacher Elizabeth Cole to the stand.
Both said it would have been beyond Hart’s ability to understand the Miranda Warning given him by police after he confessed to the crime at the arrest scene.



And I saved the most ludicrous statement in ALL of jurisprudence history made by the presiding judge (which hopefully in of itself will lead to a successful appeal)
>>>snip
At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Clifford said: “Irregardless of whether he understood the Miranda Warning, the evidence was overwhelming. The court denies the motion for a new trial and a new sentence.”

[jkshaw]

1. (Ir)regardless --

sheesh.

100 years in prison.

The judge is insane.

[Believing Is Art]

2. Did anyone ascertain if this kid even *knew* what he was doing, much less that it was wrong?

Sex ed in this country is crap, but even worse for special needs children. Did he know what oral sex was much less that it was wrong to engage in that with a child? This stinks, I hope the attorney can pursue the case to a higher court.

[Horse with no Name]

3. He didn't know.

Apparently both kids involved in this were special needs kids and it was never ascertained that anything even happened.

[Believing Is Art]

4. Even if something happened and even if he can tell right from wrong

If he didn't know what it is he was doing, he couldn't possibly know whether it was right or wrong. It seems like that would be an important thing to determine and I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned in the article, assuming he didn't know what he was doing (which I'd find likely considering his IQ and the location).

[damntexdem]

5. We'll always have Paris.

But Judge Clifford we could do without.