Posted on 06/26/2004 1:55:24 PM PDT by wagglebee
WEST PALM BEACH -- A Delray Beach pastor who faced a life term in prison for sexually abusing a preteen girl will not serve a day in prison for his actions.
Edouane Jean, 50, quietly acknowledged in court Thursday that he started molesting a girl when she was 9 years old and continued for about six years.
For that, Jean will be placed on five years of sex-offender probation and can cut short that term by two years if he follows the conditions of his probation.
His attorney said Jean has not ruled out a return to the ministry.
The plea bargain left the victim in the case infuriated, calling the probation a slap on the wrist for someone who caused so much harm.
"This is why victims in cases like this don't come forward," the woman said. "It's hell."
Jean was a well-respected pastor at Emmanuel Lutheran Church for years, and dozens of supporters showed up for his initial court appearances after he was arrested in June 2003.
A Lutheran Church investigation into his actions eventually led to Jean being charged with more than 200 counts of sexual abuse, many of them carrying life terms in prison if resulting in a conviction.
He was released on bond the next month, and prosecutors reduced the charges to four.
Assistant State Attorney Lanna Belohlavek said the plea deal was offered because it would have been hard to convict Jean at trial.
There was no physical evidence in the case, she said. Add to that the fact of putting the victim through an emotionally draining trial, and Belohlavek said they were forced to offer the deal.
"It's a resolution that we're not totally happy with, but we're satisfied it will protect the child and other children," Belohlavek said.
But outside the courtroom, the victim said prosecutors were too preoccupied with the emotional toll it would put on her.
"I wanted to testify," she said. "They manipulated my decision."
Jean must now abide by a strict set of guidelines that includes counseling and restricts him from having unsupervised time with any children.
And while none of his supporters was on hand Thursday, his attorney, Franklin Prince, said Jean hopes to serve others again.
"If people still value his counsel, he can counsel them," Prince said. "I think there's people who believe in him."
The Palm Beach State Attorney's office offers this monster a plea bargain, but wants to destroy Rush Limbaugh.
YGBSM!
According to AP it was 9 years, not 6!
http://www.marconews.com/03/06/florida/d939002a.htm
Lutheran pastor accused of molesting child hundreds of times
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Associated Press
DELRAY BEACH A Lutheran pastor is jailed in Palm Beach County on charges that he molested a young girl hundreds of times on some occasions, in a church office over nine years.
Edouane Jean, 48, of Emmanuel Lutheran Church, was charged Sunday with 50 counts of capital sexual battery, 50 counts of sexual battery and 100 counts of a lewd act on a child under 16 years of age.
(I won't even ask)---this ruling is disgusting. What IS going on in Palm Beach County? Just Plain Evil.
YGBSM = You Gotta Be S**ttin' Me
He serve out his prison sentence. It would be the christian thing to do.
When I swat a fly, I feel no remorse and fear no recriminations. Same would apply with some people I can think of.
Note: C-5; all of E
READ - HEED --- this is the leftist-radical roadmap since they have successfully comleted their first steps that were outlined back in 1962! Those were scoffed at, but they have been fulfilled - so now they are at this stage...
In 1919 an Italian socialist named Antonio Gramsci began to publish a newspaper in Milan called, L'Ordine Nuovo, or "The New Order." Loosely rendered, he concluded that the average person would never voluntarily reject the faith and culture of the West. He concluded that the best way to implement a collectivist government was to use an intellectual elite to destroy traditional values by attacking fundamental Jewish and Christian beliefs.
Antonio Gramsci, 1891-1937
...A. The New Order (L'Ordine Nuovo)
......1. Italian Communist newspaper, founded 1919
......2. Co-founder of Italian Communist Party, 1921
......3. Pre-Prison Writings, ed. Richard Bellamy (Cambridge, 1994)
......4. Selections from the Prison Notebooks (Intl. Publishers, 1971)
...B. Lenin was wrong, and the Leninist revolution will fail
......1. The workers will see the revolutionary government as a new boss
......2. When the revolution fails, the west will re-import Capitalism
...C. Gradual revolution through infiltration & subversion by revolutionaries
......1. Infiltrate the State: elective & appointed office; judgeships
......2. Infiltrate the military: enlist & subvert from within
......3. Infiltrate justice: undermine and discredit state constitutions
......4. Infiltrate education: professors & administrators
......5. Infiltrate & discredit religion: scoundrels as clergymen
......6. Register, then license, then confiscate all privately held weapons
...D. Form or infiltrate international organizations to promote goals such as "global understanding," "economic development," "transfer of resources"
...E. Both Capitalism and Judaeo-Christian culture must be destroyed before a Communist revolution can succeed
......1. Religious sentiment cannot be destroyed through legislation, as Lenin believed, but must be redirected from the divine to the state
.........a. Terror will only drive Religion underground
.........b. Religion will then reemerge when Leninism fails
.........c. So Religion must be destroyed in the minds of men
......2. Infiltrate religious academies and become priests and clergymen
.........a. Subtly promote heresy within religious organizations
.........b. Infiltrators must act so as to discredit the church
............(1) Cause financial and sexual scandals
............(2) See that this is given a high profile in the news
............(3) Like-minded infiltrators in the media will cooperate
......3. Once religion is discredited from within, continuously promote the idea that only the state can solve the problems that have been traditionally brought before the church
...F. When propagating revolutionary ideas, cloak them in polite terms
......1. National Consensus
......2. Popular Mandate
......3. National Pacification
......4. Pluralism
......5. Global Community
......6. Economic Justice
......7. Economic Democracy
......8. Liberation Theology
......9. Direct Action
...G. Marxists "must enter into every civil, cultural, and political activity in every nation, leavening them as yeast leavens bread."
With Bubba?
Hopefully.
No shame, no remorse, unafraid and will do it again.
I guess Palm Beach Co. is the place to be if you molest kids.
Just don't get addicted to prescription painkillers.
DREADFULLY right on
hideous target, aren't they!
Sigh.
This is the sort of thing I had responsibility for organizing and presenting for univ library patrons 1965-69.
From the name of this "pastor," I'd say he's Haitian. If so, there's a bit of a political thing going on here.
Bump!
This is bullsh*t! Three years' probation is equivalent to letting him go free. The girl has NOT received justice, nore has society. And this sentence will do absolutely nothing to prevent this vile creature from harming others in the future (which, mark my words, he will). He should have received AT LEAST ten years. What an outrage!
In general terms, the Left has of course been attacking the Church and all religions (except, curiously, Islam). But invoking Gramsci in cases like this only reduces the validity of the major argument you raised.
When clergy molest children, they should be cast out and punnished. This in fact would serve to stregnthen the Church. Years of covering up have caused immense (and completely unnecessary) damage. It is unfortunate that Church leadership have for so long failed to recognize such a basic moral argument.
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