Vinton man pleads no contest in attack on Appalachian Trail hiker - Roanoke Times

[WhiteBlaze]

The Winchester Star

Vinton man pleads no contest in attack on Appalachian Trail hiker Roanoke Times, VA - 55 minutes ago The Appalachian Trail crosses US 220 just north of the Exit 150 interchange, and it's common for through-hikers to stop long enough to take advantage of a ... The Winchester Star The Winchester Star all 2 news articles

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[Sly]

As the woman walked along U.S. 11 near the Exit 150 interchange with Interstate 81, a man offered her a ride, she told police. The man then drove her to an industrial plant, where he reportedly worked, and took her into an office building.

The woman said the man sexually assaulted her and then told her it was to teach her a lesson not to accept rides from strangers, according to previous court testimony.

He taught her a lesson? Sick bastard.

[TOW]

May the SOB get to experience rape in prison first hand...........

[WhiteBlaze]

Plea deal sends man to prision in rape of Appalachian Trail hiker WSLS.com, VA - 7 minutes ago A Vinton man will spend eight years in prison for sexually assaulting a 19-year old woman hiking the Appalachian Trial. Joel Fulton Carter III pleaded no ...

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[Marta]

So a 30-year sentence for a violent criminal turns into an 8-year sentence.

Where have we heard this before?

[jesse]

It does seem like a light sentence, however, we don't know how strong a case they had. If they had a weak case, 8 years is better than the guy walking.

[Jack Tarlin]

Let my try again, as my original comment was NOT meant to inspire a political discussion, it was merely an attempt to answer Marta's direct question.

Yes, we have seen this sort of thing before, in fact there have been some notorious cases of people who committed very serious crimes on or near the A.T. being sentenced to prison and then, upon release, returning to the Trail to commit more crimes. We saw a horrible example of this sort of thing this past summer in central Virginia.

I think we can all agree, whatever our political bent, that this is wrong.

Serious crimes deserve serious punishment, and I think we can all agree on this: Plea bargaining, sentence reduction, and early release of violent offenders is not in the public interest, and until this changes, we will undoubtedly see more things like this happen on or near the Appalachian Trail.

This issue transcends partisan politics. Violent people need to be separated from law-abiding citizens, and sentences for these crimes, as well as the ammount of time actually served, needs to be taken more seriously than it is at present.

[NICKTHEGREEK]

In VA, after a guilty plea the judge passes sentence. In a VA jury trial after returning a guilty verdict, the jury sentences the defendent. This obviously opens a whole can of worms. In one case I sat on as a juror, the range of the sentence terms ranged from a minimum of 16 months to life plus for 6 charges.
As it turns out the defendent was found to be not guilty on all counts and we were greatly relieved to not have to exercise the second part of our duty to the Commonwealth.
Sadly many rape cases get plead down to avoid an open trial where the victim is dragged through testimony and made out to be little more than a common whore. At least laws have been enacted to protect the victim's identity.
I find myself totally in agreement with you about choosing our judges and DA's carefully.

[rickb]

Yes, we have seen this sort of thing before, in fact there have been some notorious cases of people who committed very serious crimes on or near the A.T. being sentenced to prison and then, upon release, returning to the Trail to commit more crimes. We saw a horrible example of this sort of thing this past summer in central Virginia.

I think Jack is mistaken about there being more than one case of a person committing very serious crime on or near the A.T. being sentenced to prison and then, upon release, returning to the Trail to commit more crimes.

But the one case is enough. He makes a good point.