Who says money and race don’t matter in The United States of America? In the latest case of class and color privilege, a Delaware judge sentenced Robert H. Richards IV, a wealthy du Point heir, to probation for raping his 3-year-old daughter. Her reasoning… He would “not fare well” in prison. I’m pretty sure 99% of the inmates in America would say that before serving any kind of time. Most of the time, you’re not sent there for playing nice.
According to Delaware’s News Journal, Richards’ 2009 rape case became public this month after his ex-wife Tracy reportedly filed a lawsuitseeking damages for the abuse of his daughter. According to a lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, Richards raped his daughter, now 11, in 2005 when she was 3, telling her “to keep what he had done to her a secret.” The girl told her grandmother in October 2007, and Richards pleaded guilty in June 2008 to one count of fourth-degree rape to avoid jail time, court records show.
Richards, who is unemployed and supported by a trust fund, owns a 5,800-square-foot mansion in Greenville he bought for $1.8 million in 2005. He also lists a home in the exclusive North Shores neighborhood near Rehoboth Beach, according to the state’s sex abuse registry. His great-grandfather is du Pont family patriarch Irenee du Pont, and his father is Robert H. Richards III, a retired partner in the Richards Layton & Finger law firm.
Robert Richards IV
Judge Jan Jurden’s sentencing order for Robert H. Richards IV suggested that she considered unique circumstances when deciding his punishment for fourth-degree rape. Her observation that prison life would adversely affect Richards was a rare and puzzling rationale, several criminal justice authorities in Delaware said. Some also said her view that treatment was a better idea than prison is a justification typically used when sentencing drug addicts, not child rapists.
The fact that Jurden expressed concern that prison wasn’t right for Richards came as a surprise to defense lawyers and prosecutors who consider her a tough sentencing judge. Several noted that prison officials can put inmates in protective custody if they are worried about their safety, noting that child abusers are sometimes targeted by other inmates.
“It’s an extremely rare circumstance that prison serves the inmate well,” said Delaware Public Defender Brendan J. O’Neill, whose office represents defendants who cannot afford a lawyer. “Prison is to punish, to segregate the offender from society, and the notion that prison serves people well hasn’t proven to be true in most circumstances.”
O’Neill said he and his deputies have often argued that a defendant was too ill or frail for prison, but he has never seen a judge cite it as a “reason not to send someone to jail.”
Judge Jan Jurden
This must be the new message the U.S Courts are sending. You can walk away from crimes like raping children and killing people in DUI cases as long as wealth and class are in your pedigree.
Let’s not forget Texas teen Ethan Couch, who killed 4 people and injured several others after a deadly crash. The teen’s blood alcohol level content read 0.24, three times the legal limit. The judge in that case sentenced Couch to 10-years probation in 2013 based on the grounds that he suffered from “affluenza.” According to one psychologist, it’s the product of wealthy, privileged parents who never set limits for their children.
Well, at least being set free because you have have money has a name now… What are your thoughts on these decisions???
