Former Vatican treasurer George Pell has been convicted of
molesting two choirboys while he was Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia in the
1990’s. Pell faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each of the two
crimes, but denies the charges and is appealing his conviction. Sentencing is
scheduled for March 13th.
Both
alleged victims were 13-years-old at the time. One claims that Pell exposed
himself to them, fondled them, masturbated, and forced one of them to perform a
sex act on him.
Pell’s
lawyer, Robert Richter, in seeking a lesser sentence for his client, originally
downplayed the alleged sexual abuse of the two minors, saying the assaults were
“on the low end of offending.” He characterized it as “no more than a plain
vanilla sexual penetration case where a child is not volunteering or
actively participating.”
It was
just “plain vanilla sexual penetration?!” That’s
his defense?! What the Hell?! At that
point, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had then proceeded to explain
that, “It was just garden-variety sexual activity. Not particularly kinky, no
anal beads, French ticklers, illicit drugs, or small rodents involved at all.
Really bland and, frankly, not terribly exciting or imaginative.” That the
child was “not volunteering or actively participating” does not make Pell’s
case any more compelling. It makes it sound even more like statutory rape. With
a lawyer like that, Pell will be lucky if he doesn’t get the gas chamber. And,
if he’s guilty, he’d deserve it.
Richter’s
remarks prompted a response from Victorian County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd
(that is a singularly unfortunate name in this particular case), who said: “I
see this as a serious example of this kind of offending…There was an element of
brutality to this assault.” Is there a non-serious example of this kind of offending?
Richter
has since apologized, claiming he “misspoke.”
Mr. Richter, that’s plain vanilla
bullshit.
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