Too short for prison?

Several readers have sent me links to this bizarre story about a judge in Lincoln, Nebraska who sentenced a 5’1 man who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child to probation, rather than serving hard time in prison – because he was “too short” to “survive” a “state prison”:

LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) — A judge’s decision to sentence a 5-foot-1 man to probation instead of prison for sexually assaulting a child has angered crime victim advocates who say the punishment sends the wrong message.

But supporters of short people say it’s about time someone recognizes the unique challenges they face.

Cheyenne County District Judge Kristine Cecava issued the sentence Tuesday. She told Richard W. Thompson that his crimes deserved a long prison sentence but that he was too small to survive in a state prison.

Though he could have been sentenced to 10 years behind bars, he ended up with 10 years of probation instead. On Thursday, the state’s attorney general, Jon Bruning, promised to appeal within two weeks, calling the sentence far too lenient.

Nebraska state Senator Ernie Chambers gets to the heart of the matter:

State Sen. Ernie Chambers, a longtime critic of judges, said he was baffled by the sentence.

“If shortness is an excuse and protection from going to prison, short people ought to rob banks and do everything else they would wind up going to prison for,” Chambers said. “We’re talking here about a crime committed against a child, and shortness is not a defense.”

Exactly. The child Thompson sexually assaulted wasn’t afforded any special protections when he assaulted her, so why should her assaulter be protected?

Let’s hope that any of the over 1,000 sex offenders recently nabbed by the FBI who are considered “short” don’t get Judge Cecava presiding over their cases.

9 Responses to "Too short for prison?"

Dana says:

May 27, 2006 at 11:25 am

One wonders: if, at 5′ 1″, Mr Thompson is too short for prison, does that mean that (what’s the politically correct term for midgets these days?) “little people” are free to commit robbery, rape and mayhem?

But, this is hardly an isolated incident. Remember the Florida school teacher who was “too pretty” for prison, for screwing a student? And while it didn’t get quite as much national attention, there was a University of Pennsylvania medical researcher who was put under house arrest (in a very nice house) for the rape of a graduate student, because he was “too important” to go to jail.
Lorica says:

May 27, 2006 at 12:10 pm

This is so sad. I keep thinking “how would I feel if I were this girls Father?”. I tell you right now, if this man commits another sexual assault against another girl, this Judge should share a cell with this animal. This way she can protect him personally. It is time to hold Judges accountible for their assnine thinking. Otherwise you are going to have Fathers taking the law into their own hands, and whos fault will that be.

I keep having the same thought over and over in the last few days. Our Founding Fathers, rebelled because they had no representation, and according to English Law there could be no taxation if a body was not represented in the English Government. I want to know, WHERE IS OUR representation. In Illinois, we have Barak Obama, and Dick Durbin. From what I have heard these men speak of lately, I think they represent the interests of the world over the interest of the People of Illinois. I cannot speak of our current Congressman, as he is in the process of retiring due to a serious illness. But prior to this, he was nothing more than a yes man to the Dem leadership. No Maverick here. This Government is sad, Dem or Repub it doesn’t matter, we are not being represented. If We the People, don’t get off our collective arses and figure out that we need to shake things up it is only going to get worse. One special interest after another gets better representation that the people of this country. Perhaps it is time for another conservative revolution. Newt lead one in 1994, maybe it is time here in 2006. – Lorica
G-Monster says:

May 27, 2006 at 2:09 pm

Maybe we could have a midget jail? And one for the good looking people too.
forest hunter says:

May 27, 2006 at 2:46 pm

Jail the puke. At least he won’t have to bend over to get the soap.

Mansons mom
Dana says:

May 27, 2006 at 9:00 pm

Lorica said:

This is so sad. I keep thinking “how would I feel if I were this girls Father?”. I tell you right now, if this man commits another sexual assault against another girl, this Judge should share a cell with this animal. This way she can protect him personally. It is time to hold Judges accountible for their assnine thinking. Otherwise you are going to have Fathers taking the law into their own hands, and whos fault will that be.

It seems that Mr Thompson was shacking up with the twelve-year-old’s mother at the time. I guess that dad was long gone.

From what I understand, the state Attorney General is going to appeal Mr Thompson’s sentence. And if this “judge” is subject to reelection, one suspects that the good people of Nebraska will see to it that this is her last term.
camojack says:

May 27, 2006 at 10:34 pm

Too short to survive prison?

My heart bleeds buttermilk…
benning says:

May 27, 2006 at 10:51 pm

Well, we have a gal who is too pretty to incarcerate, so why not? In my own case, should I commit some jailable offense, I will claim I’m way too sarcastic to be incarcerated.

Too gorgeous, too, but very manly as well, so I don’t wanna use that one, y’know? Gotta save that for dates!
Lorica says:

May 28, 2006 at 1:18 am

I certainly hope so. If the state’s Attourney doesn’t appeal this it would be a very wrong. I also hope very much that the good people of Nebraska turn this person out on her ear. As far as the girl’s Father I don’t know, so I cannot say. My Brother’s daughter’s half sister’s Father was in Arizona, when my Brother’s Fiance’ died. He was moved there by his company, and would bring her there during the Summer. A year or so after the Mom died, instead of splitting up the Sisters, he moved back to Iowa. It was a wonderful move on his part. It helped my Niece heal. So who can say. – Lorica
Dana says:

May 28, 2006 at 7:45 am

Our esteemed blogmistress wrote:

The child Thompson sexually assaulted wasn’t afforded any special protections when he assaulted her, so why should her assaulter be protected?

As it turns out, the child Mr Thompson assaulted was the daughter of the woman he was shacked up with (or, as Sir Winston would have put it, up with whom he was shacked). One would have thought that her mother was a special protection, but apparently one would have been wrong.

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