Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

October 1, 2009

Oregon residents Veronica Rodriguez and Daryl Buck were convicted of first-degree sexual assault and sentenced to roughly a year in prison.

In both cases, the supposed assault didn?t involve violence, seduction, or even skin-to-skin contact. Rodriguez was accused of assaulting a 13-year-old boy by hugging him; Buck?s supposed crime was incidental contact with the seat of pants worn by a 13-year-old girl during a fishing trip.

In both cases, the trial judge set aside the mandatory minimum sentence of 75 months in prison. The prosecution appealed, insisting that under Measure 11, an amendment to the criminal code passed by voter referendum in 1994, judges do not have that discretionary authority. The state supreme court ruled that this application of Measure 11 would violate the state constitution?s ban on disproportionate sentences.

Rodriguez and Buck remain registered sex offenders for acts no reasonable person could describe as sexual assault. Such is the state of criminal justice in contemporary America.

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