Jessica's Law (and especially the new offense of continuous sexual abuse) was written with the goal of punishing the worst types of sexual abuse the most severely. The only type of abuse that was punished more severely was the repetition of a "super" aggravated sexual assault of a child. The SCOTUS took away the death penalty for that crime, so now 25-99 years or life in prison with no parole is the most serious punishment for the most serious crime.

That means that defense attorneys will have little in the way of mitigation arguments once a conviction takes place. Nonetheless, I guess every defense attorney can imagine some worse set of facts and thereby argue to something in the low range. But, given the lack of parole eligibility, such arguments seem rhetorical and theoretical in application.

The defense attorney's best approach is to convince his client to admit guilt and seek an agreed punishment without facing a jury. In our first such case, the defendant, the week before his jury trial, pleaded guilty and accepted 35 years in prison for continuous sexual abuse. That is 35 real years. Amazing.

In an ideal world the guilty would plead guilty. But that's why trying these cases is so important. Good job, JB.

Does anyone have a voir dire on CSA and/or jury charges on guilt and punishment?

If so, I would greatly appreciate copies. e-mail in profile.

I'm trying our first next month. Merry Christmas!

I've sent you jury charges from my CSA case. Good luck.

Lindy Tober with the Ellis County & District Attorney's Office obtained a conviction and the jury gave the defendant a life sentence without possibility of parole. Is this the first life sentence under the new statute? I'm thinking it is. Good job, Lindy.

WOO HOO, LINDY!!!!!

He turned down her plea offer of - far less than life. Now, in your best sing-song voice, let's say it all together, "He chose poorly!"

Great job, Lindy!

Any plea offer that was 25 or more without parole is pretty much a life sentence anyway from the defendant's point of view. We had a guy plead to 35 years (no parole) after we rejected his offer of 50 years (under a 50% parole punishment range). At some point, it is all academic. And that's why we will be seeing more trials.

Oh . . . So I guess congratulations for a job well done were not in order. It was all academic. How stupid of me.

You take my comment the wrong way. From the defendant's point of view, there is less and less reason to plead guilty (e.g., plea offers are more academic in terms of the length of time for confinement because every offer is a practical life sentence). That simply means that prosecutors should be more prepared to take a Jessica's Law case to trial, which was done very successfully in this case. I did not mean to imply that the trial itself was easy or a simple exercise. So, congratulations are in order. I simply meant to emphasize the very high stakes in place for these cases once you charge it under a Jessica's Law.

[This message was edited by JB on 11-25-08 at .]

We have tried two of these cases.
First one was due to the child having serious bodily injury and threat of death. We offered 35 he refused and took it to trial. Judge punished w/ LwoP. Defendant led from the courtroom still thinking he would parole out.

Second one was child under 6. Defendant was her Grandfather - any offer was a life sentence for him so he turned down our 30 year offer as well. Jury punished w/ 2 99 year sentences and the judge stacked. Jury told us they knew any sentence was a life sentence - but felt that was the only truely appropriate sentence as the defendant Grandfather had given this little girl herpes.

Negotiation I can see will be harder. Hasn't been for us as of yet because both cases we have had were rock solid. When we get the more normal case where you have little to no physical evidence and are building your case on the credibility of the child and corroborating details. Things will get . . . interesting.

quote:

---

Originally posted by sch:
We have tried two of these cases.

---

Actually, your cases sound more like "super aggravated" sexual assault crimes, not continuous sexual assault. Remember, the Lege created TWO new no-parole penalties in Jessica's Law.

Regardless, it is good to know that they are both having their intended effect!

Sorry, you're right they are super agg. cases not the continuous and I hope I didn't sound like I was trying to crow! If I did - please accept my appologies!

I was just trying to address the possible negotiation problems in that the cases I always see we have a credible child outcry, some corroboration (hopefully), and little or no physical evidence. I think that with probation gone as an option except for deferred adjudication - It gives us a stronger position to avoid trials. In the super/continuous sx. aslt. cases - it makes a stronger position in that I "could" offer to plea down to straight sex. aslt or agg. sx. aslt. and offer deferred on those cases where my victims credibility is good - but the corroboration or other evidence is a little shaky and/or a victim I might want to avoid putting through a trial.

It places the Defendant in hot seat of turning down such an offer and risk either aquital or an extremely long time in prison! That is what I hope will happen - put a stop to the guilty guys who just want to roll the dice. In cases where I have all the evidence I could wish for or more (such as the two cases I mentioned earlier) - it probably will mean more trials. As they might as well take a shot at confusing a jury. Unfortunately, that means victims in the stronger case will be the ones going to trial more often than perhaps the cases that are weaker evidence wise.

[This message was edited by sch on 11-25-08 at .]

I love how humble prosecutors are--you should crow a little bit, you did society a huge service and I would imagine you put much time and effort into the process!

Ok, now I really have one with multiple sexual encounters. How are you indicting these? Do you allege each seperate offense by date and act and end w/ a paragraph which alleges this as a continous act or is it something different?

Someone care to share a copy of one of your indictments your praises will be sung greatly!

send to sholden@co.anderson.tx.us

Thanks!

I'll send you my indictment. We had multiple acts which fell withing the CSA statute time period and multiple acts which pre-dated it.
E-mail me directly and remind me. I'm in trial this week.

A convicted sex offender awaiting execution for kidnapping, raping and burying 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford alive in 2005, died of natural causes Wednesday in Florida.

John Evander Couey, 51, had been ill for some time and died in a Jacksonville hospital where he had been since Aug. 12, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

Details.

Congratulations to Roy Defriend, the Limestone County DA, and Lisa Hoing of the AG's Office for the CSA conviction they obtained last night in a very, very challenging case. (Defendant is going to the court for punishment)

Great work!

Prosecutors who opted to charge Lucas Coe with raping 4-year-old Emma Thompson rather than murdering her were vindicated Thursday when jurors sentenced him to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The 2007 law that created the charge of super aggravated sexual assault means Coe will be behind bars longer than he would have been for causing her death, which prosecutors also blamed on him.

Details.