Previous Classics - Written before the creation of this weblog
The following is a response to an opinion published by the Deseret News on Monday, July 3, 2006:
I am sure the people of Lincoln, Nebraska are outraged regarding your editorial opinion published Monday, July 3, 2006. The people of Utah should be outraged, too. Again you opined that Utah’s indeterminate sentencing laws regarding sexual offenses against children are just fine and in fact represent some of the best in the nation. Tell that to the people of Nebraska. As you pointed out Utah has no mandatory minimum sentences for child sex offenders, instead the length of time spent in prison by convicted felons is left up to the prosecutors, judges, and Board of Pardons.
The following is a response to an opinion published by the Deseret News on Monday, July 3, 2006:
I am sure the people of Lincoln, Nebraska are outraged regarding your editorial opinion published Monday, July 3, 2006. The people of Utah should be outraged, too. Again you opined that Utah’s indeterminate sentencing laws regarding sexual offenses against children are just fine and in fact represent some of the best in the nation. Tell that to the people of Nebraska. As you pointed out Utah has no mandatory minimum sentences for child sex offenders, instead the length of time spent in prison by convicted felons is left up to the prosecutors, judges, and Board of Pardons.
Defense attorneys and their clients are free to cut plea deals with prosecutors to get shorter sentences and the Board of Pardons can reduce time in prison based on “good behavior” and attending “therapy sessions”. Such was the case with Shane Copeland who was convicted in 1997 and 1998 in Utah of two felonies of child sex abuse and another for lewdness-sexual battery, a misdemeanor. He was released in Utah after a light sentence and now seven years later Copeland was arrested last week in Lincoln, Nebraska for raping three girls ages 11, 9, and 6.
The police chief in Lincoln said Copeland admitted to having sex with all three girls over an extended period of time. Instead of serving a long prison sentence in Utah as is mandatory now in eighteen states (including Nebraska) Copeland was put back out on the streets to scope out his next victims. In this case, three little girls in Nebraska are now new victims of a known abuser.
The Deseret Morning News needs to explain why you place the interest of the defense attorneys, judges, prosecutors, and members of the Board of Pardons above protecting innocent children from these evil acts. Who are you looking out for? Certainly not the children of Utah and other states who have no political power or voice in these matters.
Garth Limburg
The Deseret Morning News needs to explain why you place the interest of the defense attorneys, judges, prosecutors, and members of the Board of Pardons above protecting innocent children from these evil acts. Who are you looking out for? Certainly not the children of Utah and other states who have no political power or voice in these matters.
Garth Limburg
1 comment:
Superb letter, Garth. You are holding their feet to the fire, and I hope
they print it. Please let me know if they do and when. I'm sending a copy
of your email to my children, to appreciate it.
Your loving brother....Nev
{"in the dark" Editors Note: Of course, the opinion was never published, probably due to liberal leanings. However, submissions to this forum/blog are not excluded on such bias}
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