Baby Raped: Will Justice Be Served?

The Seattle Times ^ | 12-15-03 | Nicole Brodeur

[sherim]

Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

Nicole Brodeur / Times staff columnist Baby raped: Will justice be served?

The lights are up, the Christmas Ships are out, but dark things churn in the waters this season.

On Sunday, this newspaper unveiled a yearlong investigation that found that 159 school athletic coaches have been reprimanded or fired for sexual misconduct in the past decade. Of those, 98 continued to coach or teach, while schools, the state and even some parents looked the other way.

I hope no one looks the other way in the case of another predator.

Last month, Joseph Lehman Jr., 38, pleaded guilty to raping his girlfriend's 2-month-old daughter last December. Because of his plea, the state's standard, seven- to 10-year penalty likely will be suspended when Lehman is sentenced Friday at the King County Regional Justice Center.

Instead, Lehman may receive just six months of jail time, three years of treatment for sexual deviancy and a lifetime of supervision. A court psychologist has deemed him "amenable to treatment."

Court officials stress that this improbably light sentence has nothing to do with the fact that Lehman's father, Joseph Lehman Sr., heads the Washington State Department of Corrections.

Roxanne Crowder wonders.

She is the mother of Lehman's victim (she says the baby is his, making the unthinkable even worse) and the one who walked in on Lehman that day. Crowder has held nothing back about Lehman — or about her worry that he will get special treatment. That has meant naming her baby and describing her abuse on radio and television and to me.

"I will do whatever I have to do to ensure that another child is not hurt by him," Crowder said. "He already robbed my daughter of some of her innocence. I am not going to let that happen to another child."

She asserts that Lehman is manipulative and that his family hasn't acknowledged that what their son did was wrong.

"I agree Joe needs counseling," she said. "But he needs counseling in prison."

On that day, Crowder was resting at their Auburn apartment when Lehman went to change the baby's diaper. Crowder heard the baby screaming, went to investigate and saw what she can't forget.

It took her three weeks to call police.

"I will always feel guilty that I didn't break up with him or kick him out for all that time," she said. "I just couldn't process it. It's almost like a movie you saw."

A year later, the baby still wakes up screaming and pushes her mother away. Crowder has to turn on a light so the baby will know it's her.

The whole thing makes me sad, for someday it will be too easy for this baby-turned-woman to connect the dots.

I hope then that she sees her mother's crusade as The Right Thing to Do, especially in a society where schools and churches turn their heads, witnesses clam up and judges go easy, not realizing that in doing so, they create more victims.

That could change Friday. One man sentenced, a baby's purity somehow restored and unknown others spared.

And if that doesn't happen?

Crowder sighed: "I take some relief knowing he will have to face God someday."

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@s....

More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists. Save her a seat in the courtroom.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company

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[eastforker]

OK,did a google on this guy,he's guilty it looks like,said he did it before with a nine year old in Maine,also convicted of bank robbery before.He sid he had sexual contact with the child for ten minutes.This guy needs to FRY.

[proud American in Canada]

Thanks Sheri, I signed the petition--it was up to 2377 signatures.

It's interesting--you point out that the defendant is the son of an important official in the department of corrections.

This man must receive the maximum penalty, and even that's not good enough.

[proud American in Canada]

"said he did it before with a nine year old in Maine"

sick...

I appreciate your openmindedness!

also, if you look at sherim's petition--the defendant is the son of an official with the department of corrections.

[SarahW]

DId you see my reply to # 10? At the link below

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:5jHO-IRb4RMJ:www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/120932+%22Joseph+Lehman+Jr.%22+baby&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

a local article from the King county Journal contains not only his admission to molesting his own baby, but at least one other child.

"While interviewing Lehman Jr. in the current case, King County detectives said that Lehman Jr. also admitted molesting an unnamed 9-year-old girl in Maine in 1997, although he described the girl as the aggressor."


His daddy has helped him before, and he counted on daddy running interference again, it seems:


"``He said his dad would get him off, just like last time,'' Crowder said. ``He said if it wasn't for his dad, he would have spent a lot of time in jail.''

``Last time'' was in late 1989, when Lehman Jr. was convicted of orchestrating the robbery of a bank security vehicle in Tacoma that was delivering $25,000 to automated teller machines.
"

[CajunConservative]

I also noticed that the person that posted this article and pushing this petition has failed to respond to anyone here and it has been an hour.I would like some more info before I would sign a petition ,wouldn't you?

Okay, here's my opinion, if the person is guilty of raping a baby, and that's what he plead, then he should be put away for life at the very least. Anyone capable of raping a two month old infant isn't worth salvaging and should be put down like a rabid dog. This is a crime that no one who is innocent would ever ever ever plead guilty of if it was just a he said/she said situation.

I am sure that the investigators had a physical examination of the infant and there was enough damage done for there to be evidence for charges.

Had that been my child, after I castrated the scum, I would have killed him on the spot and saved the taxpayers plenty.

[Bikers4Bush]

If it were me and I were innocent I would not plead guilty no matter what.

In addition to whatever garbage sentence he gets he'll have to register as a sex offender. That is not something to be considered lightly.

[Cronos]

Send him to the Taliban.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

If the story is true the baby would have needed major reconstructive surgery. She would have been in bad shape, if still alive, after waiting three weeks.

We had a case like this come into our ER. A man had raped (intercourse) his girlfriend's 8 month old daughter. The baby had to have surgery right away.

[eastforker]

As you can see in the above post there was no physical injuries.Looks like she caught him giving oral sex to the baby.Yes he should fry,no doubt.Sheri should have given us all the links to this story, it would have saved a lot of second guessing. This story is all over the net,the guy is a real scumbag.My original response was wary of just the mothers testimony.It is not beyond some people to accuse someone of something as horrendous as this just to get back at them for something else.What strikes me funny about this is the guy probably could have plead not guilty and could have easily been acquitted due to lack of physical evidence.This guy must have a death wish.

[CajunConservative]

I noticed there were no physical injuries due to the fact that it was oral/manual molestation. He was just getting the baby used to sexual contact being normal. Had he not been caught it would not have been very long before it progressed to physical penetration.

Even in a he said/ she said situation I just do not believe any man would plead guilty to molesting an infant. He would not live very long in jail. His father should be removed from his position in the department of corrections and held accountable.

The mother needs to be monitored very closely for not immediately contacting the police. She put her child in physical danger to be further abused since she caught him in the act.

[John Will]

May i suggest emersion in 18M Hydroiodic acid or 18M Cesium Hydroxide?.

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>>>>>Last month, Joseph Lehman Jr., 38, pleaded guilty to raping his girlfriend's 2-month-old daughter last December. Because of his plea, the state's standard, seven- to 10-year penalty likely will be suspended when Lehman is sentenced Friday at the King County Regional Justice Center.

Instead, Lehman may receive just six months of jail time, three years of treatment for sexual deviancy and a lifetime of supervision. A court psychologist has deemed him "amenable to treatment."

WTF!!! - I can only conclude that no one expects this despicable perv to last a week in the hole.

[MEGoody]

"She is the mother of Lehman's victim (she says the baby is his, making the unthinkable even worse) and the one who walked in on Lehman that day."

If I were to walk into a room and see an adult man raping a 2 month old baby, he wouldn't live long enough to be tried.

[cspackler]

I used to be all open-mided an mushy and crap... until I was blessed with a now 4 year old daughter who is as I type asleep on the couch next to me with the flu. Anyone who I caught doing that to her would not live to hear the next chime of the clock. I'm sorry, but that is the truth, consequences be damned. My wife and the rest of my family would be around to take care of her while I suffered the consequences of my actions, but that person would not be around to do it again to anyone else, and my daughter would not have to worry about him coming back to do it again. End of story.

[SarahW]

Another story - pic of the perp

http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:h53mm6GipmUJ:news.onemissingperson.org/WA-FEB-10-2003-Will-accused-molester-get-special-treatment.html+%22Joseph+Lehman+Jr.%22+baby&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[CajunConservative]

Works for me.

[anniegetyourgun]

How common it is for "boyfriends" (as in live-ins or unmarried sex partners) to be perps in cases of violence of all types. You'd think women would make the connection. But, alas, so many are too stupid.

[keri]

The mother failed to report a horrendous sexual crime in a timely manner. I have no idea what she was thinking, but she did put her baby (and possibly other children) in mortal danger by not turning him in immediately.

There's something radically wrong with the mother, too. She says she loves him and was happy with him, and wants him to get counseling in jail; that this just made her sick. (Sounds to me like she's a loon and living a fantasy.)

[Blood of Tyrants]

If it were my daughter or granddaughter, it would take three weeks just for the police to find most of his body parts.

[Senormechanico]

"Death by hanging."

From a certain body part.

SM