A twenty year old man raped a three year old girl, who happened to wander by his garage as he was playing video games, may not have to serve his mandatory 25-year-to-life sentence if an Orange County judge's ruling stands. Seriously, folks, I can't make this crap up and warning, triggers may abound.
Kevin Jonas Rojano, 20, was playing video games in his garage when a three year old relative wandered by. He became sexually aroused, pulled her pants down and sodomized her while holding his hand over her mouth as her mother was searching for her. The judge, one Superior Court Judge M. Mark Kelly, found that the punishment meted out in this case would be unconstitutional.
“However, in looking at the facts of Mr. Rojano's case, the manner in which this offense was committed is not typical of a predatory, violent brutal sodomy of a child case,” Kelly said. “Mr. Rojano did not seek out or stalk (the victim). He was playing video games and she wandered into the garage. He inexplicably became sexually aroused but did not appear to consciously intend to harm (the victim) when he sexually assaulted her.”
The defendant “almost immediately” stopped and “realized the wrongfulness of his act,” Kelly said.
“Although serious and despicable, this does not compare to a situation where a pedophilic child predator preys on an innocent child,” Kelly said. “There was no violence or callous disregard for (the victim's) well-being.”
Vomiting yet? How about this -
"...the judge said that while growing up the defendant suffered “a great deal of family disruption and abuse, making him an insecure, socially withdrawn, timid, and extremely immature young man with limited self-esteem.”
I was molested by a neighbor when I was very young, not quite as young as this child and not to this physical extent, but one of the aftereffects was a limited self esteem. As a matter of fact many of the people I hung out with in my youth had limited self-esteems and NONE OF US went on to molest ANYONE in our lives, EVER!! What happened to her was violent, predatory and WILL affect the rest of her life.
You can read the original articles in the Orange County Register here and here
I can't help but wonder what possible thought train derailed in this judges brain but I can't WAIT to see what happens next. There is a change.org petition circulating, it currently has 16, 728 signatures. You can sign it here if you like.
Fri Apr 10, 2015 at 11:04 AM PT: Three Orange county supervisors held a press conference on April 9 near the offices of Judge Kelly, announcing a plan to file a formal recall. They need 90,000 signatures to get this on the ballot next March unless the Judge resigns first. Don't hold your breath. The Judge has refused comment, his office states that "he is unable to comment due to the California Code of Judicial Ethics that prohibits him from making statements on pending cases and litigation." Let's see what the people in Orange County do.