After Sexual Abuse of 1-Year-Old, No Jail Time in Sentence for Teenager

[AthenaAwakened]

An Iowa teenager who was accused of sexually assaulting a 1-year-old girl while the act was recorded will not serve further jail time after he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of engaging in a lascivious act with a child.

A judge this week gave the teenager, Kraigen Grooms, 19, a 10-year suspended sentence and five years of supervised release, according to KTVO, a local television station. He must also register as a sex offender.

He was released after 2 years and four months in jail when he pleaded guilty in July.

Responding to the criticism, Gary Oldenburger, the county attorney for Wapello County, defended the sentence in a statement dated Thursday, presenting Mr. Grooms as the unwitting lackey of child pornographers who tricked him into the assault, as they had done to hundreds of other children.

By pretending to be a girl his age, then 16, the two men, one in New Orleans and one in Ireland, persuaded the teenager to perform sex acts he wouldn’t otherwise have done, Mr. Oldenburger said.

Mr. Grooms did not know he was being recorded, the prosecutor said in the statement.

He added that the child was uninjured, no pain was inflicted, and the child was too young to be aware of what was happening. Though the crime was no “less horrible because the child was too young to understand,” the lack of injury is an important factor in sentencing, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/us/iowa-kraigen-grooms-sentence.html?_r=0

 

[Lion IRC]

Teenagers are invited and even encouraged to 'explore' their sexuality.
Maybe they take that to mean that informed consent and being underage aren't mutually exclusive.

...the child was uninjured, no pain was inflicted, and the child was too young to be aware of what was happening

Sounds like a pro-choice argument.

 

[RavenSky]

Responding to the criticism, Gary Oldenburger, the county attorney for Wapello County, defended the sentence in a statement dated Thursday, presenting Mr. Grooms as the unwitting lackey of child pornographers who tricked him into the assault, as they had done to hundreds of other children.

By pretending to be a girl his age, then 16, the two men, one in New Orleans and one in Ireland, persuaded the teenager to perform sex acts he wouldn’t otherwise have done, Mr. Oldenburger said.

Mr. Grooms did not know he was being recorded, the prosecutor said in the statement.

He added that the child was uninjured, no pain was inflicted, and the child was too young to be aware of what was happening. Though the crime was no “less horrible because the child was too young to understand,” the lack of injury is an important factor in sentencing, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/us/iowa-kraigen-grooms-sentence.html?_r=0

I think this is further evidence of the lack of concern for the seriousness of sexual assault (if the rapist is a white male), but I think it was better than the sentences received by Brock Turner and Austin Wilkerson. At least he had already spent 2 years and four months in jail.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Responding to the criticism, Gary Oldenburger, the county attorney for Wapello County, defended the sentence in a statement dated Thursday, presenting Mr. Grooms as the unwitting lackey of child pornographers who tricked him into the assault, as they had done to hundreds of other children.

By pretending to be a girl his age, then 16, the two men, one in New Orleans and one in Ireland, persuaded the teenager to perform sex acts he wouldn’t otherwise have done, Mr. Oldenburger said.

Mr. Grooms did not know he was being recorded, the prosecutor said in the statement.

He added that the child was uninjured, no pain was inflicted, and the child was too young to be aware of what was happening. Though the crime was no “less horrible because the child was too young to understand,” the lack of injury is an important factor in sentencing, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/us/iowa-kraigen-grooms-sentence.html?_r=0

Sounds like the police saw him as more victim than perpetrator.

 

[RavenSky]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/us/iowa-kraigen-grooms-sentence.html?_r=0

Sounds like the police saw him as more victim than perpetrator.

How do you figure that? Because they didn't shoot him on sight?

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

I find the use of word "teenager" by media interesting...

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Sounds like the police saw him as more victim than perpetrator.

How do you figure that? Because they didn't shoot him on sight?

Read what you quoted.

 

[RavenSky]

How do you figure that? Because they didn't shoot him on sight?

Read what you quoted.

I read that a Judge gave him a "time served" sentence. Police didn't have anything to do with that.

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