Defendant with Capital Sex Charge takes plea and avoids death penalty
The defendant in Lake County charged with capital sex offenses carrying a looming death penalty has elected to take a negotiated plea bargain of Life Without Parole (LWOP).
The alleged crimes in this case were exceptionally heinous.
So is the state of Florida just assuming that the currently constituted Supreme Court will overturn their own relatively recent decision regarding the death penalty in any case where the death of another person is not involved?
Florida doesn’t care, they’re pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with. Florida is a spoiled temperamental child, that tries to push people’s buttons, until they fight back.
@ JoeM:
I think it had more to do with DeSantis’ political posturing during a run for the presidency than anything else.
@ RM:
They had his crime on video or his confession? I somehow doubt he was recording himself at the time, or that someone else just happened to be passing by with a camera and did nothing to intervene. And of course they’d call it “exceptionally heinous” – they certainly wouldn’t call it a garden-variety, run-of-the-mill child sex case when they were shooting for the death penalty.
I’m not intending to minimize or demean the situation and certainly not the victim. But no one knows what the specific circumstances of this case are. Neither this story, nor the original would say – all they did was repeat the DA’s claim that it was “exceptionally heinous” and let the reader’s imaginations run wild. That the victim was under 12 is deserving of a life sentence, IMHO, but I still think it’s necessary to point out the DA’s and media’s tendency to exaggerate.
Funny how Gladson considers the plea offer from the defendant demonstrates the effectiveness of this law, which clearly would have been struck down by the US Supreme Court. Makes me wonder what other crimes Florida will attach the death penalty to in order to facilitate LWOP convictions.
He was going to get life without parole as the minimum sentence for capital sexual battery no matter what. As I understand it, in this particular case they had him on video and the crimes were especially heinous. I suppose this wasn’t the test case the state wanted to use to try to challenge Supreme Court precedent.
Yes, it was that case. But I doubt they intend to challenge the precedent. The state AG couldn’t possibly come up with even a cognizable argument, let alone a case.
Far more likely that it’s only intended for political posturing and to facilitate LWOP pleas.
I’m happy that he will be there for LIFE and that’s 1 down millions to go but I’d prefer DEATH cus the Victims are already facing a Lifetime of pain, mental health leading to possible Suicide. I cru=y for the Victims daily as a Victim of Child Molestation myself.
That comes from a mind of vengeance and wrath. The system thrives on this mentality, it’s what keeps it going.
I was molested for 4+ years by a cousin who is no longer with us on the physical plane. I would NEVER want him to be locked up for any time. It’s my nature to be forgiving, it’s what heals.
My cousin didn’t know any better. When you understand that people who do things like this usually have something in their past that caused it, it’s much easier to be understanding and forgiving.
Christians talk about being “christ-like” but they don’t practice what they preach. The top 3 teachings are UNconditional love…no matter what…NONjudgement…because all have fallen short of the glory….and FORGIVENESS. These are the traits of christ consciousness. Anything else is hypocrisy.
Well said.
Sirius needs to amp-up her frequency and wake the rest of the hypnotized sleepers.
We either live in fear or L❤️VE. Anything that isn’t love is fear. These are the only two true religions. Love is the only one that sets you free.
🌀❤️🥰❤️🌀
Don’t lump those Christians who do practice what you say with those hypocritical Christians who don’t. It is like not lumping all people required to register into the most dangerous person required to register category regardless. It works both ways.
Now TS there is nothing wrong with love or Christian understanding. Its the right kind of love that counts or should we count our blessings everyday that we can breathe each morning, or are we ourselves suffering by this ill will that mankind has put on some in this protection ruse called the sex registry.
Even some of those authorities do not practice what they preach. Sure I hate this registry, the method, the deceit to put a Stumbling bock upon many all over the USA. Call it blind justice.
The death penalty is not about justice. It’s about revenge and vindictiveness. A person cannot live their life as a victim. To do so builds on resentment and pain, and by holding on to resentment and being a victim only diminishes one’s life.
It’s hard to wrap my head around this. We are talking about the death penalty and Florida. Last check Florida is batting .750… when it comes to the number of people who have been exonerated from death row 25%… you’d be crazy to trust Florida with the ability to decide who lives or who dies for their crimes.
Maybe…. If maybe… there was a full proof plan that they didn’t or wouldn’t kill innocent people then maybe it’s worthy of discussion. Otherwise it’s crazy talk.
And when did we start believing the state. We don’t know if this guy is innocent or guilty. All we know is he was willing to take a plea to avoid death.
Being rapped isn’t the end of your world! But being dead 💀 is! Remember that.
AND DeSantis just made the death penalty easier to get.
Logic might tell you that if guilt needs to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and requires a unanimous jury, then the death penalty requirement should be even more stringent. Maybe something like, beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Nope, reasonable doubt is the same bar but the jury requirement is much more relaxed, requiring only 2/3s of a jury, not unanimity. Fricken insanity.
I was also the victim of molestation, and I couldn’t disagree with you more. The idea that every victim is doomed to be a basket case for life is very popular with the Oprah generation and the even worse ‘pound-metoo’ generation that followed it, but it is simply not true.
Now when I said a minute ago that I was a victim of molestation, I must add: I also had sex voluntarily before I was “legal”, and that is something else entirely. If that behavior had been detected at the time by some misfortune, I would’ve been turned into a victim-on-paper, even though I would not have been a victim in any normal sense of the word. I thank whatever gods there be that that never happened.
Our sex laws are preposterous, anachronistic and inhumane.
It’s sad ,when you have a sex offender forum and we talking about terrible crimes. It kinda groups most of us who never had a victim, caught in a police sting in with the worst crimes ever.b
And that’s the entire problem, isn’t it? I was 25 and had a brief consensual fling with a 17 year old (something that’s not even illegal in most states) more than 25 years ago, yet I am for the most part treated the same as someone who committed a violent sexual attack or preyed on a young child.
How does treating me like I’m a danger to society, when I’m clearly not, make anyone safer?
Please don’t assume that someone who molested a young child is still currently dangerous. (Don’t throw others under the bus because your victim happened to be an adult.)
Most who have molested young children will never reoffend. (Look at the statistics.)
A course of years of therapy is very effective.
Very good point, and I agree.
You hear from murders that a murderer is not as low as a sex offender. Then you come into these postings and hear sex offenders telling you that they are not as bad as other sex offenders! This is about the Unconstitutional Registry not who is better than who! We need to remain united against the Registry and never take our eyes off of the ultimate goal!
@RM – Up until about 1993ish, the age of consent in Florida was only 16, provided the minor was not of “previous chaste character” (i.e. a virgin). After the county discovered that my 16yo “victim” was not a virgin, they dropped the charges against me. Sadly, the victim’s family then insisted that I had been intimate with my “victim” before the age of 16. I didn’t fight it, but would now if I could go back in time.
Also, capital sexual battery is “contact or union with” this means that someone who inappropriately touches someone under 12 in a sexual area (does this include upper torso?) has committed a crime punishable by death. It is surely not what most people envision when they think of a predator. They assume the worst.
I know there are horrible people out there and a few wear the predator label. But i would submit that most wearing the predator designation are not anywhere close to what people think.
I have not received any news updates in two week. Am I still on your list.
Yes. IT knows about the problem, but due to circumstances beyond our control, it could be a short time before the problem is taken care of. In the meantime, we can do it the old way — check the site daily on our own until the problem is remedied. Thanks!
If anyone would like to step up and be a pen-pal for Mr. Giampi, he is now in CFRC–Main. I’m sure he’d appreciate some encouragement at this time.