“Delaware Judge enshrines unequal outcomes for child rapists based on wealth” continues to be a national story
Of course, this type of unequal justice has been the norm forever. However, the egregiousness of the crime has finally pulled back the curtain. The son of the Vice President of the United States is involved, and a Delaware judge laid it all out in plain language – the rich get special treatment.
The botched prosecution by the AG’s office and Jurden’s resulting sentence wasn’t simply bad, it was so bad that it amounts to an attack on the courts. It spits on the idea that poor people can get a fair shake in our legal system. Resignations and firings must ensue.
They will not ensue. Nobody will be fired and everyone will go back to pretending that justice is blind in a few months (weeks?…days?). The courts will survive this, but they will be diminished in authority and legitimacy. We will have taken one step closer to the ledge. This is one step away from the ideals expounded on in the Declaration of Independence and one step toward another run of the mill plutocracy. In the end we will be another footnote. A historical curiosity that showed a possible other path to the world for a few brief centuries, then got tired of the rigorous effort required to maintain equality and justice.
Wealthy Child Rapist Given Probation As Judge Felt He Would ‘Not Do Well’ in Jail
The heir to the du Pont fortune pled guilty in 2009 to charges of raping his three-year old daughter, but never spent time in jailTime Magazine
American Justice For The Wealthy-No Prison For du Pont Heir Convicted Of Sexually Molesting His Child Because He Would Not “Fare Well In Jail” – Forbes
The outrage over a legal system clearly in the service of the wealthy cuts across party lines.
Wealthy Child Rapist Given Probation as Judge Felt He Would ‘Not Do Well’ in Jail – Breitbart
As the long, excellent article in the News Journal notes, it’s nice to hear judges focusing on the rehabilitative dimension of the justice system, but it’s enraging and offensive to see that this kind of mercy is disproportionately dispensed to the wealthiest members of society, especially as America sinks further into its decades-old scandal of mass-incarceration, becoming one of history’s most prolific imprisoners of poor people and people of color. – Boing Boing
The fact that Jurden expressed concern that prison wasn’t right for Richards came as a surprise to defense lawyers and prosecutors who consider her a tough sentencing judge. Oh well, never mind. One system for the white, rich, deranged parasite to society, another for everyone else. We can’t have people of certain genetic stock inconvenienced in prison. – Daily Kos
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And today in Delaware courts somebody will get a harsher sentence for marijuana possession than this guy got for child rape . . .
And somebody will get 5 years for looking at a picture of the same act Robert Richards actually committed.
No surprise, the Delaware Bar Association stands behind the lawyers in this case. All of the lawyers.
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/03/31/take-account-entire-sentencing-process/7134253/
Kirk defends a process rigged to favor wealthy criminals. (Shocking!) I guess it is enough of a dodge for people looking for a reason not to admit that the system is crap and produced an execrable outcome.
Geezer wrote:
“And somebody will get 5 years for looking at a picture of the same act Robert Richards actually committed.”
And a press flak, the SAME press flak who claimed that Beau Biden was unaware of the Richards case, will enclose a made-up quote attributed to Beau claiming that protecting children is his highest priority.
I think what is being lost here is that the Sunday story included a pivoting of the Biden camp to try to limit the political damage to him by claiming that he was unaware of this case. They have partially succeeded in changing the focus onto Jurden and even onto a prosecutor in his own office who apparently had carte blanche to cut such a deal on their own w/o the AG’s approval.
That, IMHO, is impossible to believe. And, if one is to believe it, one must believe that Biden doesn’t really give two shits about protecting children, one must believe that someone other than Biden made sure that the story was buried, and/or one must believe that an AG unaware of such a heinous crime being prosecuted by his own office is unfit to serve as AG.
There’s lots at stake here besides what happens to Richards. This is a pivotal moment in the career of Beau Biden. He’s got $13 mill in the bank. That’s not for a reelection campaign for AG, that’s a would-be preemptive fiscal bomb intended to discourage anyone else from running for governor or senator. If this scandal is not swept under the rug, his career could end. If it is swept under the rug, the sky’s the limit. There are an awful lot of powerful people working for the latter result, regardless of how inept his performance was on this case.
He has not been available to answer questions about ANYTHING since, what, August? There is overarching arrogance at work here. He should at least be made TO ANSWER QUESTIONS to determine whether this guy is more than an empty suit with a magical last name.
DuPont. Richards. Biden. The rules should apply to them as well as to the rest of us.
Richards could become the rich white version of Willie Horton.
Nice of Beau’s office to let Judge Jurden be the scapegoat nationally. Cowards.
“They have partially succeeded in changing the focus onto Jurden and even onto a prosecutor in his own office who apparently had carte blanche to cut such a deal on their own w/o the AG’s approval.
That, IMHO, is impossible to believe.”
This was all tied up in a tiddy little bundle. Thank God the ex-wife sued.
What did you expect? Equality before the law and consistent sentencing? Not in Delaware and I dare say nowhere else in America. The “justice” system is blatantly multi tiered and , as ever, slanted in the favor of the rich and powerful. On a sad note: We Let It Happen.
Even made TV’s version of National Enquirer.
http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/8042-dupont-heir-sexually-assaults-three-year-old-daughter-gets-no-jail-sentence
The Jurden photo you used belongs to the NJ. If only you guys had someone knowledgeable about copyright on the team here … like a lawyer … or a book publisher. 😉
SW: Getting sued by TNJ would be a publicity boon for any web site.
The story about this on Delaware Grapevive sheds a bit of a different light on this. Worth reading before the pitchforks come out.