Judge Cashman Increases Molester's Penalty

Think what you want about Fox News analyst Bill O'Reilly, but I think he deserves some credit in this.

A judge who was widely vilified for giving a child molester a 60-day jail term imposed a new sentence Thursday, increasing the man's prison time to three to 10 years.

Judge Edward Cashman said he felt he could now impose the longer sentence because the state had agreed to provide treatment to the man while he is behind bars. The state had initially said such treatment would not come until after the man served his time.

I'm sure that public pressure is not at all directly related to Judge Cashman changing his mind, but it may have factored in to the state's offering treatment while the molester was in prison. Personally, I think three years is still a slap on the wrist for what this man did, but 60 days was beyond absurd.

I believe that light has been shed on a corner of the system that does not serve the citizenry. I hope Vermont passes Jessica's Law, and soon. I hope New York does as well.

Comments

[Andrew]

"Think what I want"? OK, I think O'Reilly is a "rectal cavity." Whenever someone to whom I've given the benefit of the doubt gets "strike three," he's out. The fact that I may agree with him more often than not does not mean he deserves any special credit or credibility. The judiciary should remain independent of political pressure, except in extreme cases like this one. We should not take satisfaction from getting one asinine sentence by an idiotic weasel judge corrected, since such public pressure sets a bad precedent, we should instead focus on impeachment and getting more guys like Alito appointed to Federal appeals courts.