Baby-Raping One Percenter Avoids Prison

[GoLeft TV]

From Ring of Fire:

When a one percenter breaks a financial law, it’s just about expected that all they’ll do is pay a fine, avoid prison, and on their life goes. It’s a sad injustice, but that’s the current norm. With macabre and disgusting crimes, like rape and murder, surely no one is exempt from justice after committing such, right? Not in one instance, which is horrifying.

Robert H. Richards is the great grandson of Irenee du Pont and heir to the du Pont pamily fortune. Six years ago, the Delaware resident was convicted of raping his three-year-old daughter and was only given probation and ordered to rehabilitation treatment. The reasoning of Superior Court Judge Jan Jurden was that Richards “will not fare well” behind bars.

The case received recent public attention after Richards’ ex-wife filed a lawsuit on behalf of her children in pursuit of “compensatory and punitive damages for assault, negligence, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress” on the children.

You can read the full article here at Ring of Fire.

[pipoman]

1. The fact this is the 25th posting of this not withstanding,

I only hope that the judge and her family stay safe, and that karma work its magic. ...

[2banon]

5. This isn't being given ENOUGH attention.. I don't care if this is the 50th posting.

As far as the Judge is concerned. I hope she is disbarred, investigated/charged/prosecuted/convicted and is imprisoned for bribery and whatever other charges that can be legally thrown at her.

[KansDem]

2. WTF??!!!

In her decision, Judge Jan Jurden suggested Robert H. Richards IV would benefit more from treatment. Richards, who was charged with fourth-degree rape in 2009, is an unemployed heir living off his trust fund. The light sentence has only became public as the result of a subsequent lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, which charges that he penetrated his daughter with his fingers while masturbating, and subsequently assaulted his son as well.

Huffington Post

Then there's this:

The lawsuit claims that Richards raped his daughter, now 11, in 2005 when she was 3. Several times, he entered her bedroom at night while she slept and penetrated her with his fingers while masturbating, said the lawsuit, which includes documents from the criminal case.

Richards told the girl “to keep what he had done to her a secret,” but in October 2007 she told her grandmother, who informed Tracy Richards, the lawsuit said. The girl was taken to her pediatrician, whom she told about the abuse, and New Castle County police arrested him that December.

and...

The lawsuits asserts that Roberts also admitted in April 2010, while on probation, that he sexually abused his son. Those assaults began around December 2005, when the boy was 19 months old, and continued for about two years, the lawsuit said.

Detroit Free Press

This f*cking sicko needs to be put away for a very long, long time. And the judge should be, as well!

[BlueStreak]

3. A dissenting view

If you knew for certain that sending this guy to prison would result in his throat being slashed, would you still be in favor of it?

[Control-Z]

6. Doesn't every child molester who goes into

face that same risk?

[BlueStreak]

7. A person of great fortune would face addition animus, I believe

But please just answer my question. If you knew FOR CERTAIN that a particular sentence would result in the convict getting his throat slashed, would you be in favor of that sentence for this crime?

Answer that question first and then we can talk about how certain we think that outcome would be and what might be a proper punishment that would fit the crime.

[Control-Z]

9. That's a bullshit question.

This dick's life is no more important than any other child molester. If a prison sentence becomes a death sentence for any child molester due to poor conditions/security, there is something wrong with the prison. Child molester still belongs in prison.

[BlueStreak]

12. Why are you having trouble answering hte question.

I have to assume that you think it would be OK if the guy did get murdered in prison. I don't share that opinion.

I think there must be a way to find appropriate punishment that is PROPORTIONATE to the crime.

Blood lust doesn't really help anything.

[Control-Z]

16. Don't accuse me of blood lust.

The prison system should be equally safe for all. Why aren't you concerned with the safety of all the other child molesters? The way I hear it, every one of them is hated by the rest of the general prison population. Keeping him safely locked up for the longest possible sentence would be PROPORTIONATE to this crime. Unless you're suggesting that the crime of raping a 3 year old deserves something less.

[Blue_Tires]

18. Funny to see you playing the "bloodlust" card

you know non-rich, non-white defendants have gotten life sentences for a lot less than this, right?

[enough]

8. If the effect of going to prison were generally considered when sentencing people, there

might be less outrage. But since these questions are almost never considered in sentencing ("How well is the this person going to do in prison? Will he be safe? Will his needs be met?&quot , it is outrageous that a wealthy man gets a pass because he wont do well in prison.

In fact, it would be a wonderful world if every judge asked the question of how prison is going to effect the convicted person, and then came up with an alternative sentence that would actually do that person some good. But that's not our current world, and it's obvious why this Delaware DuPont child-rapist is getting this treatment.

[BlueStreak]

11. You didn't answer my question

If you knew FOR CERTAIN that a sentence would result in the prisoner getting his throat slashed, would you be in favor of that sentence in this case?

[That Guy 888]

21. Which is more likely, a child molester getting killed in prison...

or child molester molesting another child?

While child molesters do get killed in prison, they are usually isolated from the general population of the prison, along with informants who are also targets. How many child molesters get killed or seriously injured in prison? Contrast that with how many child molesters continue to molest children if not incarcerated.

[BlueStreak]

22. The point is that the judge believed there was extra risk in this case

because he was both a child molester and a mega-rich guy. That has a VERY high likelihood of extreme violence or outright murder in prison. And the judge had no power to tell the prisons how to do their job. It seems obvious to me that you can't just send that guy into a prison unless you intend for him to get slaughtered, and maybe you are OK with that. I am not. I'd like to think our criminal justice system has some good way of dealing with situations like this, but I don't know what that would be.

[That Guy 888]

25. If he were in the general population I would agree with the judge 100%, if the judge had said it.

But it seems to me few prisons would want to put him in the general population. I think a judge could certainly set the conditions for incarceration.

"It seems obvious to me that you can't just send that guy into a prison unless you intend for him to get slaughtered, and maybe you are OK with that. I am not."

It seems to me that you can't let that guy go free without him molesting more children, are you OK with that? How many children have to be molested before the chance of his death in prison is preferable to his freedom to molest children?

One Op-Ed article from Detroit online in favor of this "sentence" that explains the legalities

"The main focus of the article (and the headline, and the accompanying graphic) concerns a notation found in a section of the sentencing order to the effect that this "Defendant will not fare well in Level 5 setting (prison)." The article assumes this note reflects Judge Jurden's own personal feelings. In that, that is speculative and misleading. The article does not tell the reader that the notation actually appears in a section of the sentencing form headed "Notes," where a judge normally lists comments made at the hearing by the prosecutors and defense counsel and the Probation and Parole officers."

/link

[Blue_Tires]

17. It's a meaningless question, since there is no way

to know for certain...

But for the sake of argument, the solution would be to build some single-occupancy mini-prison and have him live out his years there...

[Doctor_J]

19. you seem to be arguing for no prison for any child molestor

[BlueStreak]

20. No. I am asking a simple question that nobody seems to answer

It is absurd to deny that the Judge's concerns were well-founded. People convicted of child molestation are often attacked in prison, and a child-molester from a famously super-rich family would be at exceptionally high risk of being murdered in prison.

Denying that would be asinine, and nobody here HAS denied it. So if we accept that as a probability, my question is simply if you think a judge should order a sentence that has a high likelihood of being in effect capital punishment. It isn't as if the judge could order a team of body guards be assigned to the prisoner 24x7.

It is very easy for people to spew venom at the judge, but I'm not sure the judge had a lot of options here, unless you think effectively condemning the guy to death is a good option.

[yurbud]

26. He could be placed in protective custody in prison

[BlueStreak]

28. Can a judge order that, and would it be carried out?

[yurbud]

29. OJ Simpson got it immediately. I think it's an administrative decision made at the prison

[yurbud]

23. that is at best an argument for reforming our prisons generally, not coddling the rich

[BlueStreak]

24. I agree. I don't want this guy to get off. I just don't want him slaughtered.

[2banon]

4. Thank you for giving more attention to this horrific travesty of "justice"

I came across this story yesterday here on du..

I'm still not hearing this reported on NPR, didn't hear on local news, not seeing it in the headlines. This needs to be given huge notice and attention. I don't know if it's going viral yet on the "internets".. but it damn well should be.

[BlueStreak]

10. Would you please answer my question too?

If you knew FOR CERTAIN that a sentence would result in the convict getting his throat slashed, would you still be in favor of that sentence for this situation?

[2banon]

13. He can be isolated. n/t

[BlueStreak]

14. I would be in favor of that

I assume that you agree, then, that he should not be put into a situation that is likely to result in his death. I am all for a combination of punishment and treatment. But imposing what amounts to a death sentence seems a lot like the Sharia law stuff that so many people object to. The punishment should fit the crime.

[2banon]

15. This despicable perp isn't behind bars, is he, his physical wellbeing is hardly threatened..

I'm astonished there is concern for his welfare enough to warrant a thought to a discussion at this juncture, given that he's free to molest and rape infants and children again and again. Right now I'm concerned for the victims in this case, and that justice is done both to the perp and the judge who suspended his sentence.

[exboyfil]

27. For whatever reason Beau Biden's office

knocked it down to 4th degree in the plea bargain. That is totally inappropriate for what he did. It could be that is the best they could have gotten in court, but on the other hand?? Also they reporter said that the AG did everything possible to keep it quiet (no media during the initial criminal proceedings). The reporters dropped the ball, but it sure does appear that it was a sweet heart deal starting with the AGs office and going all the way to the judge.