Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

In 1994 Oregon passed a voter-approved ballot initiative setting mandatory minimum sentences. It is called Measure 11. In 2005 Veronica Rodriquez, 23, was convicted by a jury of first-degree sexual assault. Under Measure 11 the minimum sentence for this crime is 6 years and 3 months in prison. But what exactly did Veronica do??

Veronica Rodriquez was found guilty of running her hands through a 13-year-old boy’s hair and pulling the back of his head against her covered chest in the middle of a crowded game room at the Boys and Girls Club in Hillsboro.

Circuit Judge Nancy Campbell gave her 16 months instead, saying the Measure 11 sentence would violate the state constitution as cruel and unusual punishment. One ex-cop calls the case the worst travesty of justice he’s seen in 20 years as an investigator.

“I feel like a fountain overflowing on this. I feel as strongly about Veronica’s innocence as anything I have ever investigated in my life, and I am a very seasoned investigator,” says Michael Hintz, a former Tigard police detective who worked for Rodriguez’s defense team.

Rodriguez served one year at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, earning time off for good behavior.

Kevin Mannix, the original Measure 11 backer, calls Judge Campbell’s move to override the minimum sentence “absolutely unacceptable,” saying the correct path would be to ask the governor for clemency.

In the meantime, prosecutors appealed her sentence, and in December a three-judge panel at the state Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Rodriguez should serve out the remaining five years of her Measure 11 sentence. Read the entire ruling from the Court of Appeals in: The State of Oregon v Veronica Rodriquez.

Rodriguez’s appeal of that ruling landed at the Supreme Court on Feb. 13.

If the Supreme Court either refuses to hear the case or rules against Veronica, then she will have to go back to prison to serve the remaining 5 years of her sentence. The conviction destroyed her career as a social worker. She is now a registered sex offender, living in Spokane with her parents and working as a barista. She says returning to prison would scuttle her plans to go back to school and marry her boyfriend, Kevin Hagen, who stood by her throughout her arrest and trial.

“Trying to rebuild my life, and then going back and having it taken away from me again—it’s a hard thought to deal with,” says Rodriguez, who has no other criminal record. “All I can do is keep fighting my case and have faith that down the road, it will all get straightened out somehow.”

Peter Gartlan, Veronica Rodriguez’s public defender, wants the Supreme Court to reconsider, saying Rodriguez’s case doesn’t fit with other sexual assaults that merit a stiff sentence. As Gartlan wrote in his request to the Supreme Court, citing a hypothetical case:

“Causing the back of a boy’s head to be placed against the clothed chest of a 23-year-old counselor is qualitatively different from causing a 12-year-old boy to place his tongue or his penis in the family dog’s anus…. The conduct in this case must be one of the mildest, most technical forms of ‘sexual abuse’ that one could contemplate.”

For a full, detailed description of the Veronica Rodriquez case and her relationship with the 13-year-old boy that got her into so much trouble click here:

 

Gang Member Stabs Police Officer

Edson Godinez, 17, of Ann St. in Newburgh, New York was arrested and faces 3 felony charges: Two counts of second-degree assault and a single count of attempted aggravated assault on a police officer. He also faces misdemeanor charges of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest. He is being held in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

It all began about 1:45 a.m. on Mill Street when police officer Richard Hammer saw a gang of at least twelve Hispanic males chasing another unidentified 23-year-old Hispanic male. They caught up with the fleeing man and began a vicious assault. That was when officer Hammer attempted to intervene. While trying to arrest the two ringleaders who led the attack, he was also assaulted by 5 or 6 others in the gang. During the altercation Hammer was stabbed by one of the two men he was trying to arrest. The other one and the rest of the gang escaped.

The unidentified 23-year-old being chased, sustained multiple stab wounds during the attack and was flown to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. Officer Richard Hammer was treated at St. Luke’s Hospital in Newburgh and released. He is recovering at home.

The fight was believed to have stemmed from a dispute between two street gangs in Newburgh, the Barrio Benkard Kings (BBKs) and La Eme. The investigation is continuing, and police expect to make additional arrests.