Western Pennsylvania papers report their Attorney General has had it with a rogue judge.
A state Superior Court ordered Judge Richard McCormick, Jr. to re-sentence former sports writer Thomas Rose, 53. A jury had found Rose guilty of traveling to meet a police officer he believed was a 12 year-old girl, intending to have sex with her. But McCormick threw out the jury's felony verdict, leaving just one misdemeanor charge. He then sentenced Rose to probation.
When prosecutors appealed, a state Superior Court panel ordered the Judge to go back and sentence Rose on the felony charge. McCormick responded by sentencing Rose to the exact same sentence.
"He thumbed his nose at the law, the jury, the Superior Court and the safety of the children of Westmoreland County," said Kevin Healy, a spokesperson for Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The Post-Gazette says Corbett is "irritated" at McCormick. The rival daily Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says it's much worse than that.
"Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett will no longer prosecute child predator cases in Westmoreland County because he believes a judge is too lenient in those cases," the paper reports. The paper goes on to quote spokesman Healy: "Judge McCormick doesn't take child predator cases as seriously as the Attorney General's Office. This is why we don't bring any more cases in Westmoreland County."
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The PROTECT Lobby
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The National Association to Protect Children is a national, pro-child, anti-crime membership association. We are founded on the belief that our first and most sacred obligation as parents, citizens, and members of the human species is the protection of children from harm.
PROTECT is a bipartisan pro-child, anti-crime lobby whose sole focus is making the protection of children a top political and policy priority at the national, state and local level.
