Earlier this month, the teenage ‘boy in a skirt’ who was accused of raping a girl in a school bathroom and sexually assaulting two other girls, in Loudoun County, Virginia, was found guilty.
The judge in the case said that she found the defendant’s psychological/sexual profile disturbing and ruled that he was required to register as a sex offender. Now she has changed her mind.
Defense lawyers argued that the case was a media sensation and that the defendant wasn’t being given a chance for rehabilitation.
Neal Augenstein reports at WTOP News:
Judge reverses decision: Teen convicted of Loudoun Co. high school sexual assaults will not go on sex offender registryThe teenager convicted of two assaults at separate high schools in Loudoun County, Virginia, will not have to register as a sex offender after a juvenile court judge reconsidered her initial ruling.Instead, the now-15-year-old — who was found guilty of two counts of sodomy in a May 28 incident at Stone Bridge High School and a separate incident on Oct. 6 at Broad Run High School — will remain on supervised probation in a locked juvenile treatment facility until his 18th birthday.On Jan. 12, Judge Pamela Brooks placed the teen on probation and placed him in a juvenile rehabilitation center until he turned 18 and agreed with the prosecution to put the teen on the adult sex offender registry…The teen’s probation officer, Jason Bickmore, opposed forcing him to register as a sex offender, saying studies show teenage sex offenders required to register actually have a higher rate of re-offending. He said the aim of the juvenile justice system is rehabilitation, not punishment.Biberaj did not dispute that requiring the teen to register would have consequences when he tries to get a job. “Will it stifle his successes? Very possibly.”
It’s just stunning that she reversed her decision.
In announcing her decision, Judge Brooks said: “This court made an error in my initial ruling. The court is not vain enough to think it’s perfect, but I want to get it right.”The judge ordered the teen to be in supervised probation in a locked juvenile facility until his 18th birthday, have no contact with the victims or their families. And ”I decline to grant the commonwealth’s motion,” to require the teen to register as an adult sex offender.
The parents of the victim at the center of the case are not pleased with the outcome.
The criminal here was somehow transformed into a victim.
Gabe Kaminsky writes at the Daily Wire:
Brooks ruled to drop the boy from the registry in a Thursday hearing. Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj, who said prior that the boy was released from jail due to having no “history” of assault, argued that putting him on the registration was for the community’s safety and wellbeing. Biberaj was elected in 2019 after receiving $850,000 from a political action committee funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros…The attorneys defending the boy, William Mann, Jonathan Moore, and Caleb Kershner — who sits on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors — pushed the narrative that the boy was a victim. Kershner said he is the center of “a national media outcry” and that this has resulted in the high level of scrutiny.
The election of Glenn Youngkin was a beginning, but there is clearly much more work to be done in Virginia.
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