Posted on 07/01/2004 8:01:25 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
Women secretly videotaped at gym say Williamson County man deserved harsher penalty
By Sarah Coppola
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, July 1, 2004
Melody Olsen walked into Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley's office, fuming.
Olsen had just sat in on the May court hearing in which Peter Michael Schmitz -- the man who had secretly videotaped Olsen and hundreds of other women in the locker room of his Round Rock gym -- had agreed to a plea deal and been sentenced to two years in jail.
Olsen said the district attorney's office hadn't fully informed her about the deal. She also didn't think the sentence was tough enough, and she told Bradley so in a frank exchange.
"We're talking about a minimum of 500 victims, and (Schmitz) is serving 21 months," she said. "I don't see that as being harsh."
Other victims in the case agreed, though Bradley said that the punishment is appropriate and that it would have been logistically difficult to try for a harsher sentence.
The case exemplified the delicate balancing act of plea bargaining. It also raised the question of whether the 3-year-old improper photography law, with its maximum two-year jail sentence, is tough enough, given that such cases can involve several victims.
The number of cases is growing across the country; in Central Texas alone, there have been several high-profile incidents in the past year. Pango Tea Bar in downtown Austin recently closed after police found a video camera hidden in the women's restroom. That case is still pending.
Schmitz was charged with nine counts of improper photography. Those were the women most clearly visible in the pictures and willing to file charges, Bradley said.
Under the law, prosecutors had two options: hold nine separate trials -- with a possible two years' jail time for each charge, which would add up to 18 years -- or have one trial for all the charges, which would allow Schmitz to receive one two-year jail sentence.
Schmitz pleaded guilty and received two years in jail for covertly taping the women in his gym -- then called Champion Fitness, now under new ownership -- between 1999 and 2003.
In a separate case, he pleaded guilty to sexual performance by a child for taking mostly nude modeling photos of a 16-year-old girl. For that, Schmitz received 10 years' probation and, in lengthy probation conditions handed down by Judge Ken Anderson, was ordered not to use a cell phone, TV or DVD player or have sex out of wedlock for 10 years. He will spend one week each year in the Williamson County Jail.
If Schmitz violates any of those conditions, he could be sent back to jail for up to 10 years.
Bradley said preparing nine separate cases would have been too costly for taxpayers, too time-consuming for his prosecutors and emotionally draining on the victims who could have had to testify in each case.
"It is difficult to get one case to trial, much less nine," Bradley said. "If you have someone who raped someone or robbed a bank, those cases are likely to be given priority in scheduling."
Still, Bradley said he plans to ask the Legislature to amend the law to allow judges to "stack" two-year sentences for multiple charges, allowing prosecutors to present one case only and still push for a stiff jail term.
It's also difficult to balance the wishes of each victim, Bradley said. In this case, some victims wanted the case to go to trial, and others didn't, he said.
Victim Bobbi Eaves, for example, didn't want her 18-year-old twin daughters, who also had been captured on Schmitz's videos, to have to testify.
Still, Eaves felt that the sentences weren't harsh enough until Bradley sat down with her -- after one of the sentencing hearings -- to explain each sentence. She is pleased that Schmitz will have to meet strict probation requirements for a decade instead of just going to jail and being paroled in a few years.
"It just would've been nice if we had known the pros and cons of the sentences before we went to court," Eaves said.
Plea bargaining is designed to keep the court system running efficiently, said Michael Sharlot, a criminal law professor at the University of Texas. About 90 percent of all cases are plea-bargained, he said.
Victims also don't typically have much clout in deciding whether cases are plea-bargained, according to Sandra Guerra Thompson, a University of Houston Law Center professor and former prosecutor. "The DA obviously has limited resources and knows the court system better," she said. "The difficulty is that victims want to be listened to; they want their day in court. And plea-bargaining short-circuits that."
Olsen, whom Schmitz captured nude in some videos, wanted Schmitz to stand trial for each of the nine charges.
She said she's upset that Bradley said publicly that testifying could have taken an emotional toll on the victims although several victims were willing to testify. Crystal West and Michelle Swatloski, for example, said they would have testified if Schmitz could have gotten more jail time.
Olsen, who remembers feeling humiliated when she learned that Schmitz had taped her, said she was angry that the district attorney's office called her only once, to notify her about the plea deal.
"It was, 'This is what we've done.' And that was it," she said. "They should've worked more closely with the victims. (Bradley) didn't have to see his daughter or his sister on those films. I don't think he understands what it felt like."
Bradley said his office was in touch with the victims and allowed them to share their opinions in a pre-sentencing report submitted to Anderson. Judges have the final say in sentencing.
Victim Stephanie Hall said the sentence was fair and that the district attorney's office valued her input. She said she was helped by the fact that, as a Child Protective Services worker, she is familiar with the court system and plea bargaining.
"I know there are people out there who do far worse and get off for their crimes," she said.
Since its two years, its three months off the max. It fits the crime.
Hmmm.... I wonder if that includes yanking his own willie. LOL
No cell phone? No DVD... what about a computer? No sex out of wedlock?
The sentence strikes me as kind of strange.
Jail? OK.
But no cell phone and no children out of wedlock?
Texas justice ping, not typical from Williamson Co.
No dating and no porn. Its kinda like being sentenced to a monastery. About the only thing missing was an injunction to read the Bible for his entire sentence.
You forgot the Clinton "oral sex isn't sex" loophole.
bump
Around here, we refer to it as yanking one's own clinton.
;-)
["We're talking about a minimum of 500 victims, and (Schmitz) is serving 21 months," she said. "I don't see that as being harsh."
Schmitz was charged with nine counts of improper photography. Those were the women most clearly visible in the pictures and willing to file charges, Bradley said.
Under the law, prosecutors had two options: hold nine separate trials -- with a possible two years' jail time for each charge, which would add up to 18 years -- or have one trial for all the charges, which would allow Schmitz to receive one two-year jail sentence.]
This is what the women were upset with in the sentence. Less than one full two year sentence for over 500 victims.
They can sue in civil court, as the good proffessor knows full well.
That said, I'd outlaw plea barganing, put more money into the courts and return the right of a speedy trial to both the perpetrators and the victims.
That said, I'd outlaw plea barganing, put more money into the courts and return the right of a speedy trial to both the perpetrators and the victims.
Amen to that. The lawyers know they can get sentences lowered with the plea bargins.
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