[Vision2020] ANOTHER Child Rapist Escapes Sex Offender Sentencing

[Saundra Lund]

A friend sent me the article below that was published in the Lewiston
Tribune yesterday, I think, and I'm beyond disgusted that yet another sexual
predator in Latah County has been allowed to escape appropriate punishment
by being allowed to plead to a non-sexual offense and thus escape having to
register as a sex offender for the rest of his shameful life.

 

To be clear:  I very specifically used the term "sexual predator" in
conjunction with this morally bankrupt POS as I can't think of much of
anything more predatory than "rescuing" a young relative from an abusive
family situation, referring to her as his "daughter," and then betraying her
trust by sexually abusing her for an extended period of time.

 

To me, this is shades of Jamin Wight, who similarly raped a young woman who
trusted him.  I remember being outraged at the excuses the judge made for
that POS (something akin to "he was homeschooled and thus was immature")
when allowing him to plead to a non-sex offense and thus escape lifetime sex
offender registration.  At the time, I tempered my outrage with the foolish
notion that perhaps the plea deal was acceptable to the young survivor.

 

It wasn't until several years later I learned the survivor felt betrayed for
what passes as justice for children in Latah County.  That courageous
survivor's betrayal not only by her predator but also by the judicial system
haunts me to this day.

 

Wight apparently1 eventually paid the paltry restitution ordered by the
court to the survivor, but it appears to have been like pulling teeth - he
didn't pay on time and it took him something like six years to even
minimally make amends to his victim by paying the court-ordered restitution.
In the meantime, he moved forward with his life having children while
keeping the survivor waiting year after year after year for the financial
restitution owed her.

 

In that case, the judicial system in Latah County decided deprive the
survivor of anything even remotely resembling justice by crossing its
fingers and kicking the can down the road.

 

And, it has apparently decided to do the same thing with Appleton.

 

To be very clear:  not only does the community deserve more than "kicking
the can down the road" justice with respect to crimes against children and
woman, but those survivors absolutely deserve more.

 

And, if we as a community don't demand more from our local judicial system,
we, too, are guilty by accepting the system's systemic betrayal of
survivors.

 

Does anyone want to take bets on whether or not the convicted miscreant
white male will be deported & barred from reentering this country as should
happen when a non-citizen is convicted of a felony of this magnitude???
Presumably, deportation would take place after any jail/prison sentence . .
. assuming the judge hasn't further lost his mind.  I certainly hope I'm
wrong, but I'm not holding my breath that there will be any meaningful jail
time with this conviction.

 

WARNING:  should any of the mental midgets crawl out from under their rocks
to even attempt to go down the kind of "blame the victim" route recently
taken here, you'd best have your Kevlar ready.  And, you'd best keep in mind
that we have survivors - and the families of survivors - of crimes against
children and women who read here.

 

For those wondering:  Wight has been such a fine upstanding citizen since
his crimes that he's currently facing two felony (attempted strangulation
and perjury) charges and one misdemeanor (violation of an order or
protection) charge.  That's what "kicking the can down the road" justice
gets us.

 

1  I'm giving Wight the benefit of the doubt above by assuming he actually
eventually paid the survivor restitution because I frankly cannot tell by
looking at the records.  On the one hand, I cannot believe that the charge
would be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor and that he would be
released from probation without complying with court ordered restitution,
but there is apparently still a balance due (in the neighborhood of $3000).
OTOH, this is Idaho, and perhaps after we give away the store to skanks like
Wight, we also don't demand that they pay their debts before ending
probation.  Does anyone know?

 

 

Saundra Lund

Moscow, ID

 

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men.

~ Abraham Lincoln

 

 

 

 

 

TRIBUNE

MOSCOW - A former Washington State University professor arrested last year
on charges of felony rape has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

Andrew M. Appleton, 52, was accused last year of sexually assaulting a woman
- starting when she was 16 - for more than a year in Moscow. He pleaded
guilty in 2nd District Court Wednesday to felony injury to a child as part
of a plea agreement.

Appleton is scheduled for sentencing at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 30. He faces up to
10 years in prison, a $50,000 fine, or both, Latah County Senior Deputy
Prosecutor Michelle Evans said.

The woman, who is now 19, contacted police in September 2012, according to
court documents, and told investigators Appleton had sexually assaulted her
in several locations, including Moscow, Sandpoint, Idaho, California and
Texas. The Latah County case only pertained to the instances alleged to have
occurred in Moscow between February 2010 and September 2011.

Appleton was later arrested after police recorded phone calls between the
victim and Appleton during which he did not deny having sex with the girl,
according to court documents.

He was since been removed from his duties at WSU.

Appleton has been out of jail on bond since shortly after his arrest.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20130809/841414da/attachment.html>