So a bit from the local news...
Original article
April 2
Two men, including the 18-year-old son of Arizona's Senate president, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of aggravated assault for shoving broomsticks and flashlights up the rectums of 18 young boys last year.
Clifton Bennett, of Prescott, and Kyle Wheeler, 19, of Glendale, accepted a deal offered by the Yavapai County Attorney's Office to drop all but one of 36 original charges in exchange for the guilty plea.
Wheeler also pleaded guilty to an additional aggravated assault charge for choking three of the boys until they passed out.
Parents of the victims expressed frustration and anger over the plea deal, saying it was too lenient.
Judge Thomas O'Toole of Maricopa County Superior Court, who is overseeing the case, said he reviewed evidence and the plea deal fits the circumstances of the case.
The deal leaves the defendants facing up to two years in prison on each count. O'Toole could also reduce the charges to misdemeanors when he sentences the two in May.
"I don't agree with the plea agreement," the mother of one young victim said after the court hearing. "It minimizes the fact that there is more than one victim."
As if this wasn't bad enough, the County Attorney made her own statement "supporting" the position of the prosecutors in taking the plea deal. It doesn't help too much.
And then Montini does his own column, with a few choice snippets from one of county prosecutors:
Last week, I sent some questions to Polk via e-mail. I wanted to know, for example, if the victims in the case were thoroughly evaluated by sexual-assault experts.
I also asked about a remark made by one of her prosecutors, who said, "We would certainly start from a different perspective if it was girls (as victims)." Are boys lesser victims than girls?
Likewise, that same prosecutor suggested that if the perpetrators were gay it would have altered prosecutors' view of the crime. As if the sexual orientation of the offender matters.
Just lovely, huh?
So what do the families of the victimized do when the criminal courts fail them? What they did earlier this week. Sue both "men" and the father of the younger perpetrator, who happens to be the AZ state senate president.
Because we all know that when the criminal courts fail, the civil courts will pick up the slack for those who have the sense to use them.
Besides, everyone knows everything can be fixed with a lawsuit. That is, after all, the American way.
Mel
Just call me Mel, everyone else does.
