Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Child Rapists

Convicted Child Rapist

Courtesy of CBS News - Richard Troy Gillmore was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 1987 for raping 13-year-old Tiffany Edens. Gillmore, an admitted serial rapist who terrorized Portland, Oregon-area woman in the 1970s and '80s, stalked his victims while jogging and became known as "The Jogger Rapist," reports Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman.

Last year, the parole board recommended Gillmore be set free, despite a psychological evaluation that showed he has a 75 percent chance of raping again.

So, Edens joined the local district attorney's office in a lawsuit seeking to keep Gillmore behind bars. Edens says she wanted the parole board members "to get a sense what it was like to be a 13-year-old girl on a Friday night doing her chores so that she could go to a movie with a friend and to have a sleepover, and then to be brutally raped and ambushed in her home. And that's what I wanted everyone in that room to get a sense of what that's like for somebody that goes through that."

"I think he's a serial rapist waiting to get out and commit rapes again," declared Multnomah County Deputy D.A. Russ Ratto. Their opposition comes despite a condition of parole that Gillmore wear a GPS tracking device.

Tiffany Edens today

Well, if you are like me, these stories just really make you mad. I am always doubly mad when the press is complicit, and enables irresponsible conduct by public officials, by not identifying who they are. It's just "the parole board." I just bet old Richard Troy Gillmore got a real kick out seeing his rape victim have to come into court again. And I bet those folks on the parole board will be really really sorry if he decides to go see her again once he's out. Really sorry.

For more on the history of this case click here and here.

So who are these people? Well, they are right here:

Steven R. Powers

Steven R. Powers served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Appellate Division of the Oregon Department of Justice before coming to the Board. In that role, he briefed and argued a variety of civil, administrative, and criminal cases before Oregon and federal appellate courts, and was a member of the team of attorneys who defended Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act before the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Powers received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western State College of Colorado and his Juris Doctor degree from Willamette University College of Law. During law school, Mr. Powers was a Public Honors Fellow/Extern at the Oregon Supreme Court and following graduation he served as a Petitions Clerk for the Oregon Supreme Court. Term(s): 02/05/2007 - 06/30/2009

Darcey Baker

Prior to being appointed to the Board, Ms. Baker served as a parole and probation officer and unit supervisor with Clackamas County Community Corrections for 25 years. Ms. Baker is a recognized leader in sex offender notification and was instrumental in the enactment of SB 444 into law respective to predatory and sexually violent dangerous offenders. Additionally, Ms. Baker is an advocate of educating the public on sex offenders in our communities and a social service professional through her involvement with the Oregon Sex Offender Supervision Network. Ms. Baker is a 1979 graduate of Southern Oregon State College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology. Term(s): 06/25/2004 - 12/10/2007 12/11/2007 - 12/10/2011

Candace Wheeler

Candace Wheeler possesses a Masters of Social Work from Portland State University and a Bachelors of Arts from Western Oregon University, as well as a certificate in paralegal studies. From 1999 to 2006, she was employed by the Oregon Department of Justice as a paralegal. She supported a team of attorneys representing the board and the Department of Corrections in civil and criminal appeals. Previous to her work with the Department of Justice, Ms. Wheeler worked for the Alaska Citizen’s Foster Care Review Board overseeing program development and day-to-day program service delivery, and spent many years as a social worker in the field of adoption and foster care placement. Term(s): 02/01/2006 - 01/31/2010

MEANWHILE, Back in Washington, DC, The US Supreme Court Says,

"We conclude there is a national consensus against capital punishment for the crime of child rape." - Kennedy v. Louisiana, to see the full opinion click here

Well, I for one did not even get a chance to vote on that national consensus. I'm not a big fan of the death penalty, but I could probably pull the trigger on these guys.