GUILTY TX - Aaron Hart for molesting 6yo boy, Paris, 2008

[capoly]

Oh, God. This article says he has been repeatedly raped while in jail. This just makes me sick.

I understand that the article may not contain all the pertinent information, but it is interesting to me that it states he was found behind a shed with the 6 year old and HE had his pants down; I am reading this to mean the six year old was NOT unclothed........I know the six year old didn't have to be unclothed to be abused, but it makes me wonder what really went on.

This kid was failed by his lawyer, big time. The judge can "agonize" all he wants, but what has happened is that he essentially sentenced a boy with the mental capacity of a nine year old to be abused for the rest of his life, since it sounds like the jail is doing NOTHING to protect h

Guess it is true.....we see only what we want to see....read that article yesterday and would swear that paragraph was not in there at that time, But am sure it was and some how I just closed my eyes to it.

Here is another article ...

Fairness of 100-year prison sentence for mentally disabled offender questioned

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/060909dntexlongsentence.4908784.html

Don't know what to say about the lawyer that represented him at trial.

 

[momtective]

Just shot an email to my friend Jim Harrington at the Texas Civil Rights Project http://www.texascivilrightsproject.org/ maybe they can help this kid out.

 

[capoly]

Gaytan gets nearly 2,000 years in prison

“Frank Gaytan is mentally retarded,” Morris told the jury. “When Frank was 4 years old, he had a brain tumor. ... Frank operates mentally on the level of a 7-year-old. ... The sum total of the testimony is this: Frank is not like most of us.”

http://herald-zeitung.com/story.lasso?ewcd=aa70b0f591969744

I do not want to knock Texas but what is going on here with these two sentences being given to the mentally disabled? Granted any individual who abuses another needs to be controlled in some manner. But these 2 sentences aren't in line with those given the majority of non-disabled child sex abusers.

Again, I don't feel either man should go without consequence or go unmonitored but these 2 cases sound more like the intent is to lock up the disabled.

 

[impatientredhead]

Guess it is true.....we see only what we want to see....read that article yesterday and would swear that paragraph was not in there at that time, But am sure it was and some how I just closed my eyes to it.

Here is another article ...

Fairness of 100-year prison sentence for mentally disabled offender questioned

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/060909dntexlongsentence.4908784.html

Don't know what to say about the lawyer that represented him at trial.

The police read his miranda rights and took his confession.
His attorney never challenged the confession, never challenged his ability to understand his miranda rights, and therefore his inability to waive those rights. He let him plead guilty because he *thought* they would give him probation. That is just amazing at every level. Did the defendant live with his parents? I am just curious who let this run off the tracks like this with no one stepping in earlier. They needed press coverage and intervention before the conviction and jailhouse assualts.

 

[capoly]

From article in post #21:

Young says he took Hart's mental condition into account after sentencing, flagging him for the "Mentally Retarded Offender Program," a special Texas prison unit that houses 930 inmates with mental disabilities. Hart arrived there this month.


Would love to know how the sentences of those in the Mentally Retarded Offender Program compare to mainstream sentences as something is not right. This kid below got probation...

Man gets probation for sex assault committed as a teen

Kelvin Payne was just 15 when he and two friends forced the girl to perform oral sex at a baseball field near John B. Hood Middle School in Pleasant Grove, authorities said. But a juvenile court judge certified him to stand trial as an adult. He's now 18.

Just before 9 p.m. Feb 23, 2007, three boys robbed the girl's brother of about $20 at a bus stop. They left and returned and made the siblings go to the baseball field.

There, the boys forced the girl to perform oral sex on them at gunpoint. DNA ties Payne to the crime, prosecutors said, and he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon.../DN-rape_11met.ART.East.Edition1.51024ba.html

 

[Peekaboo10]

I just don't get it :waitasec:

 

[impatientredhead]

From article in post #21:

Young says he took Hart's mental condition into account after sentencing, flagging him for the "Mentally Retarded Offender Program," a special Texas prison unit that houses 930 inmates with mental disabilities. Hart arrived there this month.


Would love to know how the sentences of those in the Mentally Retarded Offender Program compare to mainstream sentences as something is not right. This kid below got probation...

Man gets probation for sex assault committed as a teen

Kelvin Payne was just 15 when he and two friends forced the girl to perform oral sex at a baseball field near John B. Hood Middle School in Pleasant Grove, authorities said. But a juvenile court judge certified him to stand trial as an adult. He's now 18.

Just before 9 p.m. Feb 23, 2007, three boys robbed the girl's brother of about $20 at a bus stop. They left and returned and made the siblings go to the baseball field.

There, the boys forced the girl to perform oral sex on them at gunpoint. DNA ties Payne to the crime, prosecutors said, and he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon.../DN-rape_11met.ART.East.Edition1.51024ba.html

I have not looked this up but I am willing to bet this kid did not have a public defender who encouraged him to plead guilty instead of defending his case.

The disabled in these cases are probably wards of the state, have no one advocating for them, and the unfortunate draw of pulling an overworked, apathetic, and possibly lazy "defender" for an attorney. Or justice system works very differently if you have money for an attorney or if you are just in the system.

 

[yosande]

Teen gets 100 years for child sex abuse

PARIS, Texas (AP) — A teenager who has profound mental disabilities was sentenced to 100 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges in a sex abuse case involving his 6-year-old neighbor.

Hart has an IQ of 47 and was diagnosed as mentally disabled as a child. He never learned to read or write and speaks unsteadily.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-10-child-abuse_N.htm


Considering all the scumbags that are let loose with only slaps on the hand this story is a wower. Not saying this teenager should be out walking the streets but with an IQ of 47 he shouldn't be in any Texas prison.

The perp is 18 with an IQ of 47, and the DA said he hopes people will remember he committed a "violent" sexual assault. Yet, I read he fondled a male neighbor six years old, which is likely his own mental age.

The perp had the worst attorney in the whole wide world. He should have pled no quilty by reason of mental defect. Good grief.
His parents and neighbors say he is courteous, and well behaved. Did he know what he was doing was wrong?

It's disgusting that so many perps who actually do commit violent crimes against children get a couple of years, but this person will spend the rest of his life in prison with hardened criminals. He has been bullied all his life, and no doubt will continue to be.
This isn't justice. moo

ETA; I just read in another article from another poster that his pants were pulled down, but the boy was clothed completly, and that the boy is also mentally disabled. How do they even know what happened then?

 

[Donjeta]

This is very disturbing.

 

[Ms.Heather]

This is horrible.

I honestly hope someone rethinks this. Unfortunately he was misrepresented.

 

[HesterMofet]

The problem is that we do not have a system to deal with severely mentally disabled sex offenders. The crime he committed was described as "violent." I am wondering if he is a big, hulking guy as well. Anyone see a picture? If so, he was may have been portrayed as an uncontrollable monster by the courts.

There are also offenders who have bounced back and forth over the IQ of 70 mark to make it really confusing for people. I've known kids with IQs in the 60s who knew darn well that what they were doing was wrong. I knew an older man in a day program for clients with severe and profound mental retardation who was clearly a sex offender. He would wait until staff wasn't looking and try to sneak off with some guy to offend on him. When caught, he would act ashamed and then the minute staffs' backs were turned, he was at it again. Like some offenders with regular IQs, he was personable and charming.

We really need a system for dealing with people who are SOs with mental disabilities because prison will make them victims as well.

 

[kgeaux]

The problem is that we do not have a system to deal with severely mentally disabled sex offenders. The crime he committed was described as "violent." I am wondering if he is a big, hulking guy as well. Anyone see a picture? If so, he was may have been portrayed as an uncontrollable monster by the courts.

There are also offenders who have bounced back and forth over the IQ of 70 mark to make it really confusing for people. I've known kids with IQs in the 60s who knew darn well that what they were doing was wrong. I knew an older man in a day program for clients with severe and profound mental retardation who was clearly a sex offender. He would wait until staff wasn't looking and try to sneak off with some guy to offend on him. When caught, he would act ashamed and then the minute staffs' backs were turned, he was at it again. Like some offenders with regular IQs, he was personable and charming.

We really need a system for dealing with people who are SOs with mental disabilities because prison will make them victims as well.

Everything you say is true. However, until a system is in place to deal with low-functioning individuals, it is a mis-use of the legal system to just throw them into jail and throw away the key. Judges should not be able to use prisons as a 'baby-sitter' for people they don't know what to do with. The punishment must fit the crime, or else justice has NOT been served. And the job of a judge is to make sure justice is done, isn't it?

 

[OkieGranny]

From June 2011:

https://www.eparisextra.com/paris-texas-news/8074/8074

Aaron Hart, a mentally challenged 20-year-old whose 100-year sentence in 2009 was later overturned, pleaded guilty Wednesday in 6th District Court in Paris to two counts of sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Senior Judge Webb Biard credited Hart to time served. He has been incarcerated since his arrest on the day of his arrest on Sept. 28, 2008.