Outrage in Incest case Against Father of 12 year Old Girl

Outrage Follows 60-Day Sentence in Incest Case Against Father of Girl, 12

By NIRAJ CHOKSHIOCT. 21, 2016

A judge who sentenced a Montana man to 60 days in jail for incest with his 12-year-old daughter is facing a firestorm of criticism and an impeachment effort by those who view the sentence as far too light.

The state had recommended the 40-year-old father of three serve a 100-year prison sentence with 75 years suspended — in effect, 25 years — and the dismissal of two other incest charges as part of a plea deal.

“A father repeatedly raped his 12-year-old daughter,” the Valley County deputy attorney, Dylan Jensen, said during the sentencing hearing on Oct. 4, according to reports.

But in handing down his sentence, Judge John C. McKeon of Valley County District Court noted that lawyers for the defendant could argue for a less-severe punishment if an evaluator recommended treatment in a local community.

Weighing the evaluation and several other factors, Judge McKeon imposed a 30-year sentence, all of it suspended so long as the man met certain terms. The defendant must also register as a sex offender.

“The sentence may not be a popular decision by certain members of the general public, but it is a just and proper decision,” Judge McKeon wrote.

To critics, however, the decision represented a breakdown in the system.

“The victim only had the justice system on her side, and it failed her,” the organizer of a petition calling for the judge’s removal wrote. “Judge McKeon failed her. She deserves justice, and together we can help be her voice.”

Since being posted a week ago, the Change.org petition to impeach Judge McKeon had attracted nearly 80,000 supporters by Friday afternoon. The petition belongs to a newly popularized form of activism, in which critics of sentences perceived as too lenient try to harness the power of the internet to penalize the judges who issue them.

More than 1.3 million people have signed a petition to impeach a judge similarly accused of handing down a light sentence in the case of Brock Turner, a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a Dumpster.

“It is time to start punishing the judges who let these monsters walk our streets,” Justice4Montana, the group seeking Judge McKeon’s impeachment, wrote in the petition.

In Montana, the Legislature or Supreme Court ultimately holds the power to remove judges, according to the National Center for State Courts.

Under the deal with the state, the Montana man pleaded guilty to a single felony count of incest. The defendant’s lawyer argued for 25 years of community-based supervision, Judge McKeon wrote.

In handing down the sentence on Oct. 4, Judge McKeon cited a report prepared by Michael D. Sullivan, a specialist who had performed more than 2,000 evaluations over a nearly 30-year career.

Mr. Sullivan, who performed a psychosexual evaluation of the victim’s father, found that he could “be safely treated and supervised” in a local community and that such treatment was available, the judge wrote in his ruling.

Judge McKeon also cited statements from the victim’s mother and maternal grandmother, both of whom acknowledged the “horrible” nature of the crime while seeking leniency.

“He needs help — not to spend 25 years locked up,” the victim’s mother wrote. His two sons need their father, she added, “even with very understandable restrictions.”

Those sons would be “devastated” were he no longer in their lives, the maternal grandmother wrote.

Judge McKeon said he weighed all those factors, as well as the support of the defendant’s church, in handing down the sentence.

Among the conditions imposed on the defendant included serving 60 days in jail (he got credit for 17 days already served) and paying for his daughter’s past and future medical expenses, including counseling, therapy and treatment.

Whatever the results of the petition effort, Judge McKeon will be leaving his job fairly soon: After 22 years on the bench, he planned to retire on Nov. 30, according to The Billings Gazette.

NYT 10/22/2016