Trial

Choosing a trial to attend wasn’t an easy choice. I couldn’t figure out what type of trial I would like to experience. I decided to attend a sex offender trial, and I couldn’t have prepared myself enough. I was informed that the content I was going to be exposed to could be very disturbing, and I chose to attend anyway. The defendant had four convictions: Lewd/Lascivious-Child, Possession of Photo/Picture Showing Sexual Performance by a Child, Sex Battery/Coerce Child by Adult, and Abuse of Child, Engaging Sexual Performance.

The attorneys for the case gave explanation of the defendant’s history to paint a picture of why this man shouldn’t be released from the housing center. He had been forced to live at a housing center after he served his jail time, because a psychologist didn’t see him fit to be released. He had sexually been involved with 10 boys ranging from 7 to 10 years of age.

During the entire trial, the defendant was able to give his testimony. He had a smirk on his face that I could never forget. He constantly expressed that he didn’t feel he was molesting the boys. On one account, he said that he was replacing the father figure in a young boy’s life. This was completely disturbing, and the defendant said that he didn’t think he was wrong for anything he had done. In all of the cases presented, the defendant said that each boy had the choice to be with him. My main concern was that he didn’t see how a boy, at such a young age, can be confused and not know what is right or wrong.

The defendant went on to give extra information saying that he enjoyed boys with blond hair and blue eyes the best. He even said that one of the boys that he had been with had dark hair, and that was why he didn’t have sexual relations with him as long as most of the other boys. He also said that he would give some of the boys money, and his excuse for doing this was because he was the boys’ father figure. One boy in particular, he would buy food for the whole family and take it to their house. He said that the mother knew about his relationship with her son.

This experience was a complete eye opener. There wasn’t a verdict at the end of the trial. The trial was to resume at a later date. If I were the judge/jury, I would never let him out of a halfway house. He had mental problems, and there was no way that the man would ever see his wrong doing. He would continue his same ways outside of the house today as he did many years ago.