Madison County sex offender gets NO JAIL TIME
Posted by BrianAn unordained preacher who pleaded guilty today to three felony charges of first-degree sodomy in the repeated sexual abuse of three of his adopted children will not serve any time in prison.
Circuit Judge Karen Hall sentenced Jerry Wayne Love to 15 years on each charge to be served one after the other. But she accepted prosecutors’ recommendation and ordered Love to spend five years on probation and undergo treatment in a sex offender program.
Love, 51, of 3202 Overhill St., pleaded guilty to charges of sodomizing three young boys he and his wife adopted. In exchange, the prosecution dropped 10 counts of sodomy and three counts of sexual abuse against Love.
Get a load of the judge’s bio:
Prior to serving as circuit judge, she was a Madison County District Judge and an Assistant District Attorney. She served as the Division Chief in the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Unit from 1989 to 1993 and prosecuted only violent crimes from 1994 to 1996.
I can only hope that she accepted this sorry ass plea deal because the prosecution had a shaky case. District Attorney Tim Morgan’s office is going to have some ’splaining to do.
Kudos to Loretta Nall.
Update (7/11/07): Link to AL.com article fixed.
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July 10th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Wow! Her bio is just the icing on the cake ain’t it?
July 11th, 2007 at 7:40 am
He never admitted to anything. Here’s a quote:
Jeanie asked Love, “Why did you plead guilty?”
He responded, “Because it was a plea deal and it was a choice. My attorney said the odds of getting a fair trial by jury here was going to be very little. Once it came between and adult and children I had little or no chance.”
July 11th, 2007 at 7:52 am
Maybe that is why….but I have hard time believing anyone would plead guilty to this type of crime if they were innocent. I know all about plea deals and why people take them but this type of crime….I just don’t buy it. I personally would have fought tooth and nail before a jury if I were innocent….but maybe that’s just me.
July 11th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Maybe we should just give every alleged child molester who maintains their innocence probation in exchange for a guilty plea. That should be a fantastic deterrent.
I’m with Loretta. People don’t plead guilty to crimes that will undoubtedly stain them for life if they are really innocent. Three different children leveled the accusations against him. Do you think that all three are just having fun at his expense?
As they say there are no guilty people in prison. And with Judge Karen Hall on the job there is a reason for that - they’ll all be on probation.
Bottom line: his supposed lack of faith in our criminal justice system does not mean that he should get off essentially scott free.
July 12th, 2007 at 8:07 am
He gave an interview on WAFF stating that he was innocent of the charges and only plead to avoid prison. http://www.waff.com
July 12th, 2007 at 9:22 am
If I had a nickel for every time a criminal has professed his/her innocence in spite of a conviction…
Wayne are you so confident of his innocence that you would entrust him with your kids (use your imiganition if you don’t have kids) for an extended period of time?
July 12th, 2007 at 11:12 am
no but the HSV times orig. reported he had admitted guilt and he never did. His attorney told reporters at the plea that it was because it was in his best interest
July 17th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Perhaps it is time to start requiring judges to register as sex offenders when their official actions are determined to facilitate further abusive behavior.