Posted on 08/03/2006 4:33:40 AM PDT by Abathar
CLEVELAND -- It was probably not a defense the court had heard before.
A suburban Cleveland man accused of sexually assaulting nine disabled boys told a judge Wednesday that his apartment was a religious sanctuary where smoking marijuana and having sex with children are sacred rituals protected by civil rights laws.
The admitted pedophile offered a surprising defense Wednesday to 74 charges of rape, drugs and pandering obscenity to minors.
Appearing in an Ohio court for a pretrial hearing, Phillip Distasio, 34, of Rocky River, Ohio, said he was a pedophile.
He told the judge, "I'm a pedophile. I've been a pedophile for 20 years. The only reason I'm charged with rape is that no one believes a child can consent to sex. The role of my ministry is to get these cases out of the courtrooms."
Distasio, a self-professed pagan friar, is representing himself on 74 charges. He said he's the leader of a church called Arcadian Fields Ministries, and that some of his congregants are among the victims in his case.
The judge told Distasio to confine his arguments to secular laws at his trial, scheduled to begin Sept. 11.
"If you want to challenge the law, that's your right to do so," Judge Kathleen Sutula said. "But we're going to follow the laws of Ohio in this courtroom."
Cuyahoga County Bill Mason said Distasio was arrested after he wanted to write a blog for the Lakewood Library. Officials noticed something was wrong and notified Rocky River police.
Distasio was arrested on charges he molested two disabled boys he was tutoring at his home. He's also accused of raping seven other autistic children at a Cleveland school for special-needs students, The Plain Dealer reported. All but one of the boys was under 13, which carries a mandatory life-in-prison sentence if he is convicted, the paper reported.
Police said they found journals at Distasio's apartment in which he described his illegal activities, along with child pornography and videotapes of him engaged in sex with boys, The Plain Dealer reported
"Not all pedophilia is bad, and sex [with boys] can be healthy," Distasio told the court.
According to the journals, two of Distasio's victims were so helpless they could never tell anyone what happened.
"The defendant describes acts in which he had autistic children and he did what I would call sadistic sexual acts with these children," said Mason.
The school he ran from his apartment was called Class Cutters. According to Distasio's Web site, students and parents chose the curriculum in the school for unique children.
But prosecutors said it was little more than a trap that snared one victim and then another.
"Like all predators, he used this one child to bring other children to him and that's what was happening, and that's how he got his second victim," said Mason.
And prosecutors believe there may be more victims.
Distasio has a history of working with children dating back 10 years.
Prosecutors said he could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
How about hang him, but not by the neck?
As the father of an autistic son, I cannot begin to tell you how upset this makes me. They just don't come any lower than this disgusting, amoral hunk of protoplasm.
Good description. Calling them animals never seemed to cut it. Animals don't behave in the dispicable way that humans can.
Sadly, no. But it sure makes me wonder about those judges private lives if they lack the moral integrity to deal with this kind of debauchery.
but gay marriage activists say there is no such thing as the slippery slope...
Thanks for the ping. This will be an excellent email to those who refuse to recognize the real dangers to our young children posed by predator homosexuals.
I don't understand why, as a citizen and taxpayer, I can't expect justice for me and mine. I don't want to have to become a "criminal", but he would be dead and I would have had to give my life for my family, while NAMBLA and the ACLU argue over naval lint.
For the life of me, I can't understand why OJ is still breathing. If I were Mr. Brown, He would have played his last round of golf by now. Mr. Brown is old and his life is basically over, except for the heart attacks and arthritis. His daughter was wronged and got no justice. I don't get it.
If this guy attacked 25 children, surely there is one parent that will stand up for his child. If enough people did this, the courts would straighten themselves out. I also believe in "jury nullification". If I got on a jury with a parent involved in what I consider justifiable homicide, I can assure you he would "walk." Let them decry VIGILANTISM all they want. He would have been justified in my book.
Some people can justify anything...anything! I've been learning more about people who have no conscience, AKA sociopaths from my wife who just graduated last may with her Ph.D in clinical psychology. She will be working with these patients and I do worry about her.
Not if I were on the jury!!
I don't mind forgiving of the truly repentant. Even Adolf Hitler could have qualified for God's mercy.
Still, being forgiven doesn't mean you don't still have to pay the consequences of your actions, physical, emotional, and legal.
and the CC in general, likes to keep it "quiet."
flame all you want.. see my profile. I will always REMIND them of what the CATHOLIC CHURCH did until I see repentance... which I have not seen yet!
I've never understood this line of thought, as a sracastic joke, or otherwise.
In other words, "our ordained judicial system looks the other way at this sort of thing, but don't worry, the basic moral backbone of our prison population won't tolerate this kind of behavior one bit."
So thank goodness for the moral safety net of our criminals to provide justice? That's ridiculous.
Pagans have practiced human sacrifice down through the ages, so I suggest Distasio be used in their next religious observance, post haste.
You're a better Christian than I, c. My forgiveness for subhumans like that comes in a very different caliber.
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