Saturday, September 15, 2007

Another sexual predator could walk

If activist judges are going to completely discount a jury's finding, why do we even have a judicial system that includes a jury?

Overturned verdict stuns DA-

A stunned Sheboygan County district attorney said Thursday he will seek to appeal Circuit Judge Timothy Van Akkeren's decision overturning a man's conviction for trying to entice a 9-year-old girl into a park shelter to have sex.
Van Akkeren made his ruling just minutes after the jury handed down its guilty verdict Wednesday, saying that the shelter the man tried to lure the girl into wasn't secluded enough to satisfy the requirements of the charge.
According to a criminal complaint, Mitchell D. Pask, 44, of Sheboygan was charged in June with approaching the girl at a playground at Workers' Water Street Park in Sheboygan, offering her candy and asking her to follow him to a nearby shelter.


Van Akkeren's reason for overthrow the verdict by the jury:

Van Akkeren immediately overturned the verdict, however, determining that the park shelter was not a "secluded area" as required for the charge.

The jury actually traveled out to the location and determined that indeed there were plenty of secluded areas.

Steve, from No Runny Eggs, also traveled out to the site where the crime took place and video taped plenty of secluded areas.

How can any judge do this?

The defendant is a convicted sex offender who has been in front of Van Akkeren on 6 seperate occasions. If it were not for the fact that the defendant is charged in another criminal case, this man would be walking free right now.

Pask has appeared before Van Akkeren in six other cases, online court records show. Those include the misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and others for disorderly conduct, resisting an officer and bail jumping.

I would love to know what, if any, punishment Pask has received from Judge Van Akkeren.

Not secluded? Judge for yourself, Steve has the video.

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