Tuesday
Oct132009
Dunbar Village Sentencing Today
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 12:26PM The Blogmother
Today is Good News Tuesday, but I thought some of you would like to know that today is the day they sentence all four Dunbar Village Gang Rapists.
You might also like to know that there is a case currently pending before the Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of life sentences for teens.
The lawyers are arguing that a teen who has committed double digit felonies including torturing animals that ended his crime spree by raping a 72 year old woman shouldn't be thrown under the jail for the rest of his life.
At least one of the Dunbar Village gang rapists would be covered by this ruling if the Supreme Court agrees with the Equal Justice Initiative. SO where is the organization that demands equal justice for women whoa re terrorized by these predators? There are worst things than death.
"I wish they could get the death penalty," Christian said of the three teenagers who will be sentenced today and others suspected in the June 2007 gang rape of a woman forced to have sex with her son. "That woman and her son will be marked for the rest of their lives."
And not just them. Two years since the attacks shook West Palm Beach and put the complex under a national spotlight, the psychological aftershocks rattle residents who remain.
Traumatized residents walk around with "blinders on," said Shandra Dawkins, executive director of the Florida Resource Center, which last month brought a free mobile health care and counseling clinic to Dunbar. Palm Beach Post
You might also like to know that there is a case currently pending before the Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of life sentences for teens.
In 1989, Joe Sullivan was convicted of breaking into a Pensacola, Fla., house, stealing jewelry and coins, and raping the 72-year-old woman who lived there.
Coming after 17 prior offenses that included assault, burglary and animal cruelty, a judge found that rehabilitation was hopeless. He sentenced Mr. Sullivan to life imprisonment, which in Florida carries no possibility of parole.
Mr. Sullivan was 13 years old. That fact alone makes the sentence unconstitutional, says Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery, Ala., nonprofit that represents indigent defendants. WSL
The lawyers are arguing that a teen who has committed double digit felonies including torturing animals that ended his crime spree by raping a 72 year old woman shouldn't be thrown under the jail for the rest of his life.
At least one of the Dunbar Village gang rapists would be covered by this ruling if the Supreme Court agrees with the Equal Justice Initiative. SO where is the organization that demands equal justice for women whoa re terrorized by these predators? There are worst things than death.
Reader Comments (15)
I can see why some would like to argue about sentence length but a sociopath is a sociopath no matter what their age. If that prisoner had done that much damage by the age of 13 we should be sending thank you letters to to the judge because he surely would've murdered someone had he been allowed to roam the streets.
I'm curious though - if they want to make sentences more lenient for offenders under 18 then why try them as adults?
As for the Dunbar Village terrorists they need to stay behind bars and I'm still holding out hope that the others are arrested if not for that crime then at least something else because you know they've been creating enough havoc.
Yes, but politically speaking, Judge Marx may give each as long a sentence as possible; it looks bad if a higher court overturns your sentence. And in this case, if I'm not mistaken, judges like Judge Marx are elected by the voters.
I admit I'm very torn, but I just can't get pass forcing a mother and son to do a sex act at gunpoint. For that alone, they should each get life without parole. Where did that come from? That's the kind of violence we read about in war-torn countries. Oops, yes, some of our neighborhoods here in the U. S. are war-torn, right? :( :(
hummm-mm, sentences of over 400 months, over 500 months sounds like a mighty long time. :( :(
I personally believe that some people are so emotionally bruised that therapy would have little to no affect on them .
However I have grown up in some of the crime infestated neighborhoods, where rape and murder are common place. I have witnessed the change that christ can have in a persons life, at the age of thirteen a child should never be damned to hell in prison.
IN other words you think all of their future victims should be dayumed to hell instead. How neat that you get to chose what do do with the lives of the innocent.
You are NOT getting the full details the one that was 13 was mentally challenged. He was NOT alone, he was with older children. They both pinned the rape on him (the woman could not identify her attacker as she was blind folded) and got off. He is now still in prison, is 33, is in a wheel chair from MS if I'm not mistaken and was repeatedly raped and harrassed because he was put in an ADULT prison when he was just 13 years old! You have no idea the full story, please educate yourself before you make such comments. I am on the side of women for sure, but I learned about this case in my criminal law class and it made me sick. He most likely didn't do it. His attorney was disbarred after the trial for sucking at his job, the DNA evidence was destroyed before his trial. As someone who claims to be an advocate of justice, you must educate yourself before making assumptions. Just because he is a boy (and I honestly can't believe I'm defending a boy because I'm such a feminist) doesn't mean he doesn't deserve equal and fair treatment. (Sorry for the rant, but I can't believe you'd say such things without doing the research first).
Hi Gina!
Sorry to go off topic, and if you can delete this and use for "personal" that is ok - this is just and fyi
I was flipping thru the channel on tv and caught the end of an alert on Nancy Grace. A black teen mother is missing from a bus stop and her 3 year old son was left behind. As far as I know, they are still looking for her..This aired about 6:55..
But, BREAKING NEWS jumped in - Jon and Kate and the missing money!! Right now it is 7.30 and the J&K story is still running!
I managed to get thru to the hotline and talk to an operator who wanted to know if I wanted to talk about J&K. I told her to tell Nancy to get back to the missing mother - I could care less about J&K!!
I was told that "oh we will get back to that story....later..." and hung up on!
I plan on going on her facebook account and voicing my displeasure there...I still can't believe it..
Thanks for letting me vent...
These criminals should get the book thrown at them.
I've been reading about this case since it happened and I'm horrified that this type of crime could happen. What's worse is how no one has come to the aid of this mother and her son.
They are most likely sociopaths and are probably pass the point of redemption.
Oh deliver us all from arrogant little law students who think they now have a license to lecture the world. First of all, the issue isn't whether he has MS, the issue isn't whether he was with other children. The issue before the COURT is whether a life sentence for offenders below a certain age is cruel and unusual punishment. You're trying to do what we call "argue the facts." You're throwing every mitigating circumstance in the world into the mix to try to cloud the LEGAL issue.
Go read a case book and call me when you manage to pass somebody's bar exam.
"Coming after 17 prior offenses that included assault, burglary and animal cruelty, a judge found that rehabilitation was hopeless. He sentenced Mr. Sullivan to life imprisonment, which in Florida carries no possibility of parole."
SO were the other kids with him when he was committing the other 17 prior offenses as well?
Dunbar Village Rape Defendants Sentenced To Life In Prison
http://www.wpbf.com/mostpopular/21273321/detail.html
"Jakaris Taylor's younger brother is restrained by deputies after his brother and two others were sentenced to life in prison."
One has to hope that this young man will decide to live his life differently...
The Palm Beach Page summed up the sentencing events well.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/10/13/1013dunbar.html
@ Phi Sister, you have a lot of nerve to come here and tell us to get the facts straight. WAOD has kept many people informed of this case since the beginning; you're a Janey come lately. Additionally, WAOD, myself and others are part of a network of feminists, women and men, who had been in contact with one or two people in West Palm Beach right after this happened. True, the media doesn't always get the facts straight, sometimes they even lie, but in the case of the Dunbar Village rapists/teen terrorists, the media there got it right. The only ones who didn't get it right were the parents of each teen involved.
I am truly sad for each of those convicted for these crimes against humanity; I am sad for their families, but rest assured, 99.9 percent of my sadness and sympathy is reserved for the victims of such a horrific, savage, brutal crime. And since you feel so sorry for the little criminals, while you're figuring out "what the facts are", can they come stay with you? Would you have let them stay in your house or in your neighborhood while awaiting sentencing? Yep, just what I thought! :( :(
I am saddened that a 13 year old gets life in prison, but I ma saddened that a 132 year old could particpate in such a horrific crime.
From what I gather, this kid could more than likely be a sociopath, and they don't get better, they get worse.
17 prior offenses by the age of 13? Raping a 72 year old woman at age 13?
What POSSIBLE rehabilitation is there for that? :-|
Prison isn't any good, but dammit, at least he's off the streets. Imagine if he were still on the streets..... :-|