originally posted 3/14/2009
My son lost his case on Monday – he is now a registered sex offender. There are no articles in the newspaper on this, but this is my first “draft” of the story I will be updating on my website. It truly breaks my heart to see what is happening to teenagers these days. I just bet if we were rich it would have never come to this. Thank you for all the support you’ve given me throughout this terrible ordeal. My next step – having the Romeo and Juliet law incorporated in Illinois. From there – who knows, this is just the beginning.
She sits in the first row of the court room with tears running down her face as she watches her boyfriend being convicted of a sexual crime. His crime was being with her. She screams inside her head, “I AM NOT A VICTIM” as he lowers his head in shame for having to plead guilty for something he has not done. He is taken away in handcuffs – his life about to forever change.
Two years ago, he was 19 and she was 16. They had already been together for almost a year. Photos of her topless were found in his possession and he was arrested for child pornography and sexual misconduct with a minor. She, being only 16 at the time, could not legally consent. The State of Illinois says you must be 17 years old to consent to sex and anything younger than that is illegal.
Because of that law, he was forced to take a felony charge of “forcible” sexual misconduct (the second charge dropped) with 2 years probation and 10 years on the sex offender registry. If he did not take the plea, he may never see her again. Although she is now an adult, in hopes of seeing her again in 6 months, he agrees to take the plea so that they may eventually have a life together.
He was told he could not win at trial because he broke the law and even if he did win, the State Attorney was going to bring in an ex-girlfriend from 3 years ago to testify that she was raped by him (the ex-girlfriend was dumped for the new girlfriend and has a lot of anger). Now that he took the plea, the so-called rape charge will never be brought up. Funny how they are willing to convict on photographs (which was what the father said he was so angry about) and let a rape go forever uncharged.
The father admitted that he liked “the boy” and did not hate him. He also said if there was no contact for 6 months, he would testify on their behalf so they could be together again. I guess it doesn’t matter that his daughter WILL be with a convicted sex offender and if they have children, his grandchildren with have a father who is a registered sex offender.
If there was a chance to win this case, there would have never been a plea. If there was a way that they could have stayed together, he would have fought this to the end. After 3 months in jail and no chance of winning the case, he lowered his head and plead guilty.
Tonia