People have absolutely no mercy when a crime involves a child, but they don't give a crap when it happens to an adult.

I find it shallow and disgusting.

[edit on 6/12/2009 by greeneyedleo]

The law is messed up. Here in England, you get more years for stealing money from a post office than sexual assault. Some guy I knew was strapped for money and went into a Post Office with a knife, he flee'd with nothing and got caught, he recieved 6 years in prison for threatening, attempted kidnap (like wtf?) and something else that I can't remember. Another guy around these ways pushed a drunken girl into a bush and doodled her, he got 2 years for sexual assault and pay her £600 (like again... wtf!?)

The whole system is weird, I don't think anyone knows how long you'd get for crimes anymore. That's probably why so many people do things like that, the sentencing is like Monopoly landing on chance INCLUDING the get out of jail free card.

Originally posted by RenDMC
The law is messed up. Here in England, you get more years for stealing money from a post office than sexual assault. Some guy I knew was strapped for money and went into a Post Office with a knife, he flee'd with nothing and got caught, he recieved 6 years in prison for threatening, attempted kidnap (like wtf?) and something else that I can't remember. Another guy around these ways pushed a drunken girl into a bush and doodled her, he got 2 years for sexual assault and pay her £600 (like again... wtf!?)

The whole system is weird, I don't think anyone knows how long you'd get for crimes anymore. That's probably why so many people do things like that, the sentencing is like Monopoly landing on chance INCLUDING the get out of jail free card.

Yeah it's totally ridiculous.

I think any kind of theft shouldn't get more than a year in jail. Same with drug possession.

A count of sexual assault should be 5-25 years, and murder should be 25 years-life.

Someone help me out here...a 47IQ is, what, about the cognitive level of a 4-5 year old? Is everything in Texas black and white, without shades of gray or nuance...no, the jurors obviously knew this case did not fit into a "law", so they could reason. The judge in this case is not acting with reason, let alone wisdom.

To send someone with a 47IQ to a prison is criminal. If that is "the law" in Texas, Texans need to change it.

Originally posted by desert
Someone help me out here...a 47IQ is, what, about the cognitive level of a 4-5 year old? Is everything in Texas black and white, without shades of gray or nuance...no, the jurors obviously knew this case did not fit into a "law", so they could reason. The judge in this case is not acting with reason, let alone wisdom.

To send someone with a 47IQ to a prison is criminal. If that is "the law" in Texas, Texans need to change it.

I hope this makes anyone who admires the Texas justice system think twice.

100 years for FONDLING? Are you # kidding me?

I'm not excusing what he did - fondling a 6 year old isn't right under any circumstances - but this is a mentally disabled kid who most likely does not know right from wrong or even what he was doing. Legally "sane" adults have sex with underage children and don't get sentences like this.

This is absolutely ridiculous and a clear abuse of power by this judge. He needs to be fired and this kid needs to at least get a new trial.

And lets make no mistake here...he is a "kid". Simply because the law says you are an adult doesn't make it so mentally. Again, that in no way excuses what he did, but lets not act like this is some lonely, perverted, sexual predator in his 50s.

This 6 year old will probably not even remember this five years from now. The right thing to do here would be to get this kid the help he needs, NOT put him in the sex offender database, and let him live the rest of his life out of prison.

This is a completely excessive and ridiculous sentence. It's as simple as that.

please do not judge a massive multicultural and extremely diverse group with your uneducated bias and misconceptions

Sure not all Texans think like that. But it is a problem there more than it is in the rest of the United States.

Originally posted by blackthorne
this is texas, remember? they enjoy treating the mentally disabled like this. it also probably has to do with the fact that they were both boys!

Don't paint all of Texas with your stereotypical brush. I live in Texas and I don't find this sentence right at all. I'd bet money on it that the majority of people - at least in the Houston area where I live - would find this sentence excessive as well.

Your view of how Texans are is obviously based on absolutely no facts. Of course there are people like you are describing, but I challenge you to find any state or country that does not have people like that.

This has nothing to do with what state it occurred in. The judge was wrong, the jury was wrong, it happens. Excessive sentences occur everywhere.

This sentence needs to be overturned and this kid either put in a mental institution for evaluation or at least given a new trial with a more competent lawyer representing him. He shouldn't face prison time - much less 100 years - for this.