Father says prosecutor took easy route, allowed man who sexually assaulted his daughter to continue preying on underage girls

 

(Note: This comment was received on the Turner Report post from earlier in the week concerning Jasper County Circuit Court Judge Dean Dankelson's decision to reject a plea bargain deal with Joplin gymnastics coach Kip Johnson that might have had Johnson back on the streets in four months after pleading guilty to two statutory sodomy charges.)

I recently had to deal with a local prosecutor who I won’t name. I am the father of an underaged sexual assault victim, complaints were filed, investigation done, detectives found more than enough evidence to bring charges.

I kept in contact with said prosecutor throughout this ordeal and had provided evidence and other girls willing to share their own stories of his actions with them and my daughter was very willing to testify.

During this time the perp committed another felony while out on bond.

This charge was not of a sexual nature and was something he had repeatedly done and been charged with over the years. The prosecutor called me and said he was willing to take the new felony that carried up to a 10-year sentence if they would drop the sexual assault case.

I protested as I felt he should be on the registry as this was proven to be a pattern.

I was told that it really didn’t matter what I thought and that informing me of this was just a courtesy. The new case would be a much quicker process and the end results would be the same. Again I protested as that just wouldn’t be true.

They gave him the plea and he was out in less than 2 years.

I feel that the prosecutor in this case was just taking the easy route and not really interested in justice and more about clearing the case load. My daughter got no justice and went through a lot of uncomfortable interviews and processes trying to keep this from happening to more girls. 

Two weeks after he was released, he posted a pic on Facebook with his arm around an underaged girl.

I see this over and over and I know the judges can be easy on these defendants but we have to get them to the judge with charges first.