I noted a legal loophole of sorts in a local case a while back.
The math teacher was banging a 13 year old student, and also they were texting each other. He got wind of the impending shitstorm from a fellow teacher and destroyed his and his students cell phone. The girl thinks she is in love with him and won't testify, and with out the texts and lurid pictures the prosecution for the sex was severely hampered.
He is getting some time for destroying evidence (<1 year), but he won't have to register as a sex offender. The fine wasn't all that much (considering) but his legal fees bankrupted him and his wife, and she's long gone now.
My concern is, maybe the penalties for destroying evidence need to be comparable to that for the offense involved in the first place. I understand the difficulty in requiring registration as a sex offender without a cooperative witness and a successful prosecution. FWIW, as part of his plea deal, he's surrendered his teaching certificate (for the state where the offenses occurred) but obviously, there's an unaddressed issue there.
The math teacher was banging a 13 year old student, and also they were texting each other. He got wind of the impending shitstorm from a fellow teacher and destroyed his and his students cell phone. The girl thinks she is in love with him and won't testify, and with out the texts and lurid pictures the prosecution for the sex was severely hampered.
He is getting some time for destroying evidence (<1 year), but he won't have to register as a sex offender. The fine wasn't all that much (considering) but his legal fees bankrupted him and his wife, and she's long gone now.
My concern is, maybe the penalties for destroying evidence need to be comparable to that for the offense involved in the first place. I understand the difficulty in requiring registration as a sex offender without a cooperative witness and a successful prosecution. FWIW, as part of his plea deal, he's surrendered his teaching certificate (for the state where the offenses occurred) but obviously, there's an unaddressed issue there.
The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it.
