Judge scolds four men who raped drunk teenage girls in Myrtle Beach instead of giving them jail time

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Raw Story

Four men accused of raping a pair of teenage girls at a Myrtle Beach hotel avoided jail time after striking a plea agreement. Edward House, Bryce Charleson, Cody Haux and Jamel Quick agreed to plead guilty to assault and battery charges Thursday in South Carolina.

Each man was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to have no contact with the victims, who had been visiting from Kentucky.

The girls, then 14 and 15 years old, went for a walk April 9, 2015, while vacationing with the older girl’s family, and they met the four older teenagers. They later told police they drank alcohol and went back to the men’s hotel room, where one girl said she was raped by three of the men and the other girl said she was raped by one of them. They went to an area hospital afterward to report the rapes, and all four men were charged with sexual assault.

However, prosecutors said the circumstances of the cases would require four separate trials, and the victims agreed to support a plea bargain to keep from testifying in each trial.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/judge-scolds-four-men-raped-drunk-teenage-girls-myrtle-beach-instead-giving-jail-time/

[sandensea]

1. But you can't say 'fuck' in Myrtle Beach without getting big ticket.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10761236

Textbook Republicans.

[onenote]

16. What do you think the judge should have done

given that she (the judge) was presented with a plea deal that didn't provide for jail time and rejecting the deal would have forced the victims, against their wishes, to go through four trials.

[niyad]

25. thank you. I should have read the article more carefully.

[Fred Sanders]

23. Seems to me having read the article, the judge had little choice but no jail time and the so

called scolding may be more like frustration at that very issue.

So the rage is misdirected.

The headline is...clickbait from an internet not news site.

[msongs]

3. rawstory is not a news source nt

[uppityperson]

5. Here's a link and more info as to why the plea deal

https://wpde.com/news/local/no-jail-time-for-four-men-accused-of-raping-teens-in-myrtle-beach

The prosecution explained that because of the circumstances of the crime there would have to be four separate trials. Because of this, Assistant Solicitor Mary-Ellen Walter said a plea deal would be easier on the victims who didn’t want to relive the crime during trials.

[LanternWaste]

12. I'd bet your sternly worded letter will be very effective. nt, pt 2

[left-of-center2012]

14. I think you've posted that before

[Demit]

19. RawStory is a news aggregator and links to the source stories it carries.

Good grief. Half the stories in major newspapers are wire stories from Associated Press. And thus the papers are not the "source" of those news items, either.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. Am I the only person who reads these kinds of accounts and thinks

"What we need are more women judges."

[cstanleytech]

6. The prosecutor made the deal not the judge and assuming it was the same one in court he is

actually a she by the name of Mary-Ellen Walter.

[rogue emissary]

9. Wow, that some how makes it worse.

[cstanleytech]

18. No argument there however I do not see much point in bashing the judge or her

especially if the prosecutor had the victims consent to offer the defendants the plea deal.

[lark]

20. This stinks to high heavens and women can be jerks too.

Judge and prosecutor should both be fired for taking advantage of very young traumatized victims. I don't believe there had to be 4 separate trials, prosecutor just wanted to up their total or get the girls to accept stupid plea deals where the rapists are free to go out and do the same again. SC where guys can rape young women with no punishment - sickening!

[onenote]

24. Huh? Are you saying the judge and prosecutor should have pressured the victims

to put themselves four trials. And what is your basis for not believing that these defendants would be entitled to four separate trials? The could and would argue, almost certainly with success, that being tried together would be prejudicial. Happens all the time.

It's a shitty situation, but bashing a judge whose only role was either to accept the plea bargain or reject it against the stated wishes of the victims doesn't make any sense.

[rogue emissary]

7. You're not the only one.

[sdfernando]

10. THIS

[FiveGoodMen]

21. Hey, yeah. Maybe like Betsy Devos

She's a woman.

[Angry Dragon]

8. Not good at all

[Sherman A1]

11. Pardon me for a moment

[LanternWaste]

13. I'm guessing these rapists are merely "troubled young men" who will never be painted as "thugs"

or as part and parcel of the "criminal element."

Bryce and Cody, especially.

[onenote]

15. This was a plea deal that the victims apparently concurred in

Blaming the judge? Well, let's consider the judge's options. Accept the plea deal which did not provide for jail time. Or reject the plea deal and force the victims, apparently against their wishes, to go through four trials.

The judge couldn't just impose jail time without a trial and without a deal that provided for jail time.

It sucks, but its strange to see the judge attacked here.

[Demit]

17. You're right. Those blaming the judge only read the headline, not the story.

Here, for the jumpers-to-conclusions, is what the story says:

"The judge scolded the four men as they were sentenced under the Youthful Offenders Act, and told them they were being granted a second chance.

He also asked the men if they had sisters, and three of them raised their hands.

The judge then asked them to consider what punishment they believed would be justified if their own sisters had been assaulted."


It REALLY irks me when people are too lazy to click through but make snap judgments anyway.

[orleans]

22. sad all the way around n/t