Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/26/illinois-judge-fired-for-miscudnuct-after-circumventing-law-to-reverse-rape-conviction.html
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I’m guessing it would only make this ex-judge even angrier if someone pointed out that you’re guilty of rape if you force yourself on someone who’s unconscious, regardless of how they got that way.
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There is also this lovely tidbit, from The Chicago Tribune, of the judge explaining this whole thing:
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That tracks. It puts me in mind of a road side sign for a church someone put on the socials recently. It said, “Good people don’t go to Heaven. Only Christians do.”
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Sigh… if anyone was hoping for the Illinois supreme court to provide justice i have some shocking (not that shocking) extra awful.
While the Illinois OAG asked to change this, the supremes in Illinois think its just fine for… checks notes…
ALMOST convicted,
but definitely found guilty of rape by a jury, and definitely raped a child
Drew S. “The Sweet 16 Rapist” Clinton
to be back on the streets, leaving town for college to rape again.
https://www.wgem.com/2022/03/03/il-supreme-court-denies-motion-overturn-sex-assault-acquittal/
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It was a bench trial. There was no jury. The judge had initially found him guilty, but then reversed himself during the sentencing phase and acquitted the defendant.
And it really sucks, but unfortunately, with our justice system, there’s just no way to undo that. A conviction can be overturned. An acquittal cannot be overturned. And 9 times out of 10, that’s a good thing. This is in the 10% that isn’t. But I’m not sure I’d want to change that part of our system. If we allowed the state to reverse an acquittal, that would almost certainly result in even more racial bias in the administration of justice.
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Found a better link to the whole saga with really solid local reporting.
And the age of consent in illinois is 17, there is no close in age prohibition or exception.
She was 16, in illinois she is unable to consent to sex. Awful judging.
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Guess who just shot to the TFG’s future “classy, really the best” SCOTUS nominee list.
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At least he included “people” in his phrase, rather than just “females” /s
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Who would Jesus rape?
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Huh. What a weird euphemism for “lawless asshole.”
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I’m sure no one will be surprised that Adams is a VERY conservative county.
Big county, the main city, Quincy has like 60k of the 80k people in the county. This is basically how Illinois votes - any city over 50K is blue and the farmland votes red.
My favorite bumper sticker/truck sticker/etc that I see when I go downstate is how they feel Chicago should be its own state because its “leeching” all the money. It only takes a minute to go to the state treasury office website and see that downstate people get roughly $5 for every $1 in tax they spend, whereas up here in Chicago we get ~82 cents.
Plus, if Chicago split (and would it be just the city, or the county, or the Chicago metro area), what is left would be one of the smallest states of the union with just Amazon warehouses and a lot of corn to its name. It’d be one of the most flyover of flyovers.
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Was she drunk, or was she just sick from drinking six shots of vodka on an empty stomach?
Edited to be clear I’m paraphrasing the judge:
So the question becomes was she intoxicated where she couldn’t give consent, or was she simply sick from drinking vodka or drinking these drinks on an empty stomach?
For the issue of rape and consent it doesn’t matter.
She was a child that we failed to protect and then failed to bring her assailant to justice.
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He should have been defrocked merely for incoherence. That judgement text (despite a huge chunk of it being quoted twice @beschizza ) was more like a Trumpian ramble than a clear and concise judicial summing up.
As for:
The young lady made her decision to go to the party and to furnish alcohol.
She furnished alcohol? I think the alcohol was furnished by whoever hosted the party; she merely consumed some.
I’d have come to the conclusion he was incompetent even without this egregious judgement, which amplifies his unfitness to adjudicate, due to misogynistic views of what is and is not rape.
Again: Do. Not. Elect. Judges! They should be trained, qualified and experienced to a given standard, not elected for political reasons by axe-to-grind voters.
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I have the strangest feeling that this esteemed jurist does not apply the same level of exhaustive care when it comes to the fact that you totally can’t absolutely prove that that murder wasn’t actually a very high effort suicide. No doubt for reasons both consistent and in excellent faith.
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Imagine being so utterly devoted to the cause of cruelty and misogyny that you jeopardize your career just to make sure a stranger is free to rape again. So tired of all these evil bastards who feel so very righteous about their anti-morals.
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When I was still working for a particular church’s services, there was a guest preacher whose whole sermon was basically about that. It was weird. I think a lot of the people in the room heard it as meaning that being just a good person was not enough, but it really felt to me that he was saying that being a good person was not the requirement. That being a Christian got you into heaven regardless of how good a person you are.
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I also remember Darren Bailey, the 2022 Republican candidate for governor, moaning about how much dominance Chicago and the suburbs had over the geographically larger southern part of the state. Neglecting the fact (more likely, purposely misdirecting the conversation) that most of Illinois’ population lives in the Chicago area.
Chicago metropolitan statistical area = 9.4M people
Illinois total population = 12.6M
He constantly bashed Chicago during the election, though this Washington Post article details him living in the Hancock Center.
“Darren Bailey, the Republican nominee for Illinois governor, spent the summer bashing Chicago as “a crime-ridden, corrupt, dysfunctional hellhole.” But apparently, he’s had a change of heart. He recently admitted that he was living atop the city in the John Hancock Center, one of Chicago’s biggest skyscrapers.”
Just another rich, white, conservative dude.
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