Here is Judge's side of story set forth in a letter to editor of his local paper. Seems like the Prosecutor cooked up the "deal" and then went crying that Judge was too soft:
http://www.dispatch.com/editorials-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/03/18/20060318-A11-01.html
Thanks for your link. I have been following this and had not seen that piece.
While I can see the point the Judge makes, I don't believe it should get him off the hook. He rules supreme in the courtroom, it is his job to know the background of a case especially when dealing with child molesters.
The Judge and the prosecutor had to know one another and I feel that the two of them trying to pass the buck on the other is disingenuous.
The prosecutor should be investigated over his possible misconduct at the very least. The Judge should be off the bench.
There's still more to this than the judge is saying. The reason the guy got a plea was because the victims didn't want it to go to trial...not because it wasn't true...but because the older one was afraid his (now) high school classmates would find out his identity. I can only imagine his fear at his peers discovering he had taken it in the rear end, even if it had been forced. No one would look at you the same way.
The family also didn't want the younger one to have to go through a trial. He was 5 when it started.
If the judge admits that he knew there had originally been 20 counts, and that's it's been plead down to 2 of a lesser charge, you can bet he is aware of the ages of the children involved. This scumbag Selva should have been imprisoned for at least part of the 5 years, if not the whole time. Hell, the kids had to be tormented and assaulted by him for 3 years. He deserves to be in prison for at LEAST that long!
I personally feel that Connor is a disgrace to the judicial system and to society. I can't believe his past convictions were set aside so that he could remain on the bench. This is sham justice. I want him to be removed now, and I want all judges to know that we are not going to keep bending over and taking it up the rear anymore.
FWIW, the local paper has also mentioned that Connor issued probation twice as often as the average here for plea deals. Plea deals are common, but a judge doesn't have to accept them. Even if he did, he was certainly within the law to order prison time for this offense. Connor injected his own personal bias into this case when he said that he had a problem that he was trying to manage, and that Selva has a problem that he should try to manage.