Boy, 15, gets 60 years for StL County sex attack of girl, 6

[bluestateguy]

Yes! NO FUTURE for him! Warehouse this rapist in an adult prison.


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/A5E1FF8453EF5C2586257394005C3087?OpenDocument

Boy, 15, gets 60 years for StL County sex attack of girl, 6
By William C. Lhotka
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/15/2007

CLAYTON -- A judge sentenced to 60 years in prison this morning a teenager who had pleaded guilty of kidnapping, beating and sexually assaulting a neighbor in Spanish Lake on Nov. 11, 2005, when he was 13 and she was 6.

St. Louis County Circuit Judge Melvyn W. Wiesman imposed the sentence on Sherman Burnett Jr., now 15 and the youngest inmate ever housed in the county jail.

In imposing the lengthy sentence -- Burnett will be ineligible for parole until at least the year 2056, when he is 64 -- Wiesman rejected confining Burnett in a juvenile offender program in Montgomery City, Mo., where Burnett could have gotten a chance at probation as early as age 17.

Testimony this morning disclosed that Burnett had blamed, in part, the 6-year-old for his own misfortune and had denied any sexual assaults in a recent interview with a state employee, even though he had pleaded guilty on Aug. 10 of sodomy and attempted rape, along with child kidnapping and assault.

more

[flvegan]

1. Hmmm...a quantifier

"Warehouse this rapist in an adult prison."

Care to explain?

[bluestateguy]

2. He should be punished as an adult. That's what I mean

He should have the same punishments, responsibilities and protections as any other prisoners.

I condemn prison rape.

[Clintonista2]

34. But he's not an adult

So why should he be punished as one?

[Trajan]

3. This is sad in so many ways ....

There is no triumph here ..... only loss ....

[LostinVA]

4. Good -- a 15-year-old can be a sociopath just as well as a 30-year-old

I actually think he should probably not get out at 64.

He isn't being warehoused, he's being incarcerated for a horrific act.

[dj49770]

6. He was 13

The boy was 13 at the time of the incident.

When 13-year-olds are allowed to drive, vote, drink and have sex, they should be tried in an adult system. Until then, no way. This is right-wing lunacy to the nth degree.

[LostinVA]

9. Then replace "15" with "13" in my post

I stand by every word.

A sexual predator and violent offended shouldn't be freed in four years with a sealed record. As I say downthread, this isn't just some troubled kid, it's a sociopath.

What you state are privileges. There is no right/privilege to rape and victimize someone.

[dj49770]

10. Well,

If you replaced it with 31, I'd agree with it ;)

Sociopathy is a medical term of art that can be diagnosed by a qualified mental health professional, not by someone reading a news clipping.

[LostinVA]

13. No, I think I can safely say this kid is a socipath

[dj49770]

14. Not really

Unless you are a psychiatrist and you've interviewed him, you most certainly cannot say that.

Well, you can say it, but people who know better aren't going to take you seriously.

[dj49770]

5. Terrible

They should never have tried him as an adult, that is horrific.

[LostinVA]

7. totally disagree -- a predator is a predator

And, this one shouldn't be housed with normal juvvies and paroled in a year or two, given a sealed record, and allowed to victimize someone again. This is a pathological personality disorder, not just some troubled kid.

I wished all rape and child sexual assault were treated this severely -- females in this country would be a hell of alot safer.

[flvegan]

8. STRONGLY agree.

Hi, Lost. Well stated in this case.

[LostinVA]

12. Hi, good-looking

Thanks. When you read the histories of Ted Bundy, or the guy down the street who raped his stepdaughter for ten years, they all showed their pathology at a young age in some way... some not so dramatic as this.

[dj49770]

11. "Predator" is just a scare word

I fail to see why sexual assault ought to be regarded as something entirely different than any other sort of violent assault. That premise really comes straight out of American puritanism and sex-hatred, but it seems to infect a lot of people on the left as well as the right.

[LostinVA]

15. No, it isn't, but you know that

OMFG -- the hell with your "sex hatred" shit. Try saying that to a woman (or man) who's been raped. IT ISN'T A SEX CRIME -- IT'S A CRIME OF VIOLENCE AND HATE AND CONTROL. Go educate yourself by working on a rape hotline before coming on here and insulting rape victims. Jesus Christ.

And, if you honestly think they aren't human predators out there, then I can do nothing but call you naive.

Off to bed. I have no time for this insanity.

[dj49770]

18. No...

Maybe you'd be happier if we skipped the trial entirely and went back to lynching?

[flvegan]

16. You need a dictionary?

"Predator" is a valid word.

You ought to find a way to back that shit up.

[dj49770]

17. It's a valid word

It's valid, but not in the context in which it's ordinarily used.

[flvegan]

19. No? Do tell why that's the case? Be specific, please.

[dj49770]

20. Why

It's most commonly used in relation to victimless crimes (e.g. that awful piece of gutter journalism with Chris Hansen on MSNBC).

Before you get bent out of shape, of course I am not saying that the crime mentioned in the OP was victimless. I just find it best to avoid language that's chiefly used by hysterics.

[flvegan]

21. So then the word "Predator" has no juice because Chris Hansen used it?

Please. And also, tread very, very carefully. You relate "victimless crimes" to Hansen's work with "To Catch a Predator" and your label of gutter journalism aside, crimes committed in that realm are not victimless.

Poster, you are suspicious.

[dj49770]

22. Report it

If you think I've violated a TOS, report it. If not, I think I can figure out how to "tread", but thanks for the free advice.

As for Chris Hansen (and his bosses), they are the real predators.

[flvegan]

23. Ok, skippy, I'll take the bait...

While I know there are issues, problems and ill charges in the TCaP series, you're saying that "Predator" is an incorrect term in this scenario?

[dj49770]

24. Which scenario?

Are you talking about the men on the series, or the teenage kid in the OP?

Most of the men on the series, yes, I would not call predators. They are criminals, perhaps, but not predators. Personally I think the age of consent should be lower, and entrapment of the sort practiced by Hansen himself should be criminalized.

About the kid in the OP, if the story is accurate he behaved in a predatory fashion. I still don't like using that word, especially of a teenager, because of its broader connotations, as well as the implicit dehumanization in it.

[flvegan]

25. Interesting.

I'm talking either/or. I agree that some of what Dateline does is probably borderline entrapment, I also trust our legal system to sort that out. Your 45 year old ass gets nailed talking to a "13 year old girl" online, suggesting what is suggested then showing up...that's predation. Stand trial. If they're wrong? Lawyer up.

[dj49770]

26. Well,

As a general rule, I don't see any reason to "trust our legal system", any more than I trust W to read everyone's e-mail and trace their phone calls.

As far as the situations in TCAP, I just happen to be very very liberal about sex, and think the law itself is very often the problem. Most people don't agree with me, just like they don't agree with my presidential pick, but that doesn't make it outside the bounds of discussion.

But whether you agree or not, we ought to be able to agree that slickly exploiting this problem for ratings (or votes) is sickening.

[flvegan]

27. I very much agree with you on your last statement.

Very, very much so.

[BadgerLaw2010]

28. There are plenty of predatory criminals. Some are sexual.

Others are just general sociopaths. Others are proud career criminals. A few are serial killers.

None of them should be on the street. Treat society like a bunch of antelope, lose your privilage of playing in society for a while.

[Hoof Hearted]

29. That is some fucked up thinking right there. It obviously comes from your sheltered

naive experience or lack thereof.

How dare you. How insulting. Predator is "just a scare word"?

Fuck n' a. I lost two teeth and my ability to enjoy normal intimate relations for several years because of a scare word?

I can say only this, and you must imagine it in 142 pt. font -

UP YOURS. You have NO idea what the fuck you're talking about.

[dj49770]

31. Really?

And people like yourself are responsible for this man http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/news/stories/20040608/localnews/595940.html being dead. So stick that in your pipe.

[Evergreen Emerald]

30. Where would you have him go? To your neighborhood?

Near your loved ones? Did you see what he did to that 6 year old girl?

What would you have society do?

[dj49770]

32. Something else

Something other than lock a kid up for 50 years for something he did when he was 13. I don't care what else it is. But something else.

[Evergreen Emerald]

35. again...what? Is he safe to be around children? How would we know?

who should be the experiment?

[RebelSansCause]

33. this is fucking terrible

another fucking miscarriage of justice. this boy needs help not an adult prison. i went with one of my law classes to Sing-Sing prison (maximum security prison in New York) and that place scared the shit out of me. they treat people like animals. imagine being locked in a cage when you are 15. why the fuck is he being tried as an adult? he is not a fucking adult. he is only going to emerge more corrupted than he would have before. wow the goddamn media and it's bullshit, those right-wingers who scream for blood and "justice" for that sick word vengeance.

Fight fire with fire and the whole world burns. :cry::mad::argh::grr::cry: