APPLETON — A 22-year-old Appleton man, who attacked another man because he was a registered sex offender, was placed on probation Friday for 18 months.
Outagamie County Circuit Judge Dee Dyer imposed and stayed a one-year jail sentence for David T. Starkey, who was convicted of disorderly conduct and bail jumping.
At a Nov. 5 jury trial, Starkey was found not guilty of the more serious charge of substantial battery but was found guilty on the misdemeanor charges.
"I am really sorry for everything that happened," Starkey said.
Starkey beat a 33-year-old Appleton man on Aug. 30, 2007. Starkey had targeted the victim because of his status as a registered sex offender, according to the criminal complaint.
The victim required hospitalization for treatment of extensive facial injuries and lost teeth.
[Ed: So, here's a clear illustration of how we, as a society, ajudge two different kinds of criminals. On the one hand, we think that a demonstrably violent crime in which the perpetrator beats the victim, a registered sex offender (having located him on the sex offender website), so severely that he is hospitalized and "loses teeth," warrants probation and not jail time. On the other hand, the man he has beaten was reported to have been convicted 15 or more years ago for having consensual sex with his then-14 year old girlfriend. He was 19 at the time. And yet he is still required to wear the scarlet letter of "sex offender". The message couldn't be more clear: maim or kill a sex offender and it will be as if you had attacked a subhuman who is worth far less than the rest of society. This is comparable to the value that the Jim Crow south placed upon "nigger" lives. ]
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment