Judge Matthew J. Murphy III says he agonized over the sentence he imposed on a rapist Tuesday. He wasn’t ashamed, he said, to admit that he “actually prayed” over what to do.
He shouldn’t be ashamed of that. What he should be ashamed of is the decision he reached: eight years of probation for Christopher J. Belter, who sexually assaulted four girls, aged 15 and 16, in his Lewiston house.
Murphy, acting more like an advocate than a judge, decided that prison would be somehow “inappropriate” for Belter who originally faced charges that included first-degree rape. The 20-year-old felon committed his crimes when he under 18 but was sentenced as an adult offender. What adult gets a few years of probation for serial sex assaults against teenage girls?