Liberty Minute for April 4 2014

Rape is a violent crime, and child rape is among the most abhorrent acts found within the compass of fallen man?s depravity. Assuming that prisons should exist, men who sexually molest children deserve to fill them, and judges generally aren?t reluctant to send them there.

Delaware resident Robert H. Richards IV pleaded guilty several years ago to raping his three-year-old daughter. The presiding judge in that case, Jan Jurden, decided not to send Richards ? a 47-year-old man who stands six-feet, four inches tall and weighs roughly 275 pounds ? to prison, insisting that he ?will not fare well? in that environment. Instead, he was placed on probation and assigned to undergo sex offender treatment. Now Richards? ex-wife accuses him of molesting his son.

The sentence, which was recently made public by attorneys for Richards? ex-wife, stunned the legal community in Delaware, given that Judge Jurden is regarded as hawkish and inclined to impose maximum penalties. One likely explanation for this uncharacteristic leniency is the fact that Richards is an heir to the DuPont fortune, and is supported by an immense trust fund.

Innocent poor men suffer in prison after being wrongfully convicted of the crimes to which this wealthy man pleaded guilty.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.