Man convicted of child abuse exiled to Canada (he's US citizen - new meaning to dumping?)

CTV.ca ^ | Sun. Oct. 22, 2006 | Staff w/AP

[GMMAC]

Man convicted of child abuse exiled to Canada

CTV.ca News Staff
Updated Sun. Oct. 22 2006 11:26 PM ET

Given a choice between jail and exile to Canada, an American man chose Fort Erie, Ont. after being convicted for having sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Starting Monday, Malcolm Watson will stay out of the U.S. for three years as punishment for having a sexual relationship with the Buffalo, N.Y. student.

The sexual abuse sentence handed down by a New York State court only allows Watson to re-enter the U.S. to report to his probation officer.

Watson, 35, lives in Fort Erie with his Canadian wife and three children.

The former seminary teacher was arrested in April after a mall security guard noticed Watson and the girl sitting in a parked car for two hours.

District Attorney Frank Clark called the sentence "a little dicey."

Immigration lawyers in the U.S. are questioning whether the court has the authority to banish a citizen, The Associated Press reported.

Watson's defence lawyer Oscar Smukler was reportedly surprised by the unusual sentence. He is concerned that his client's new criminal record could prompt Canadian authorities to deny Watson entry.

"We did some research on the question of whether Canada might consider throwing (Watson) out, which would make him a man without a country," Smukler told AP.

Watson did have a choice of sentence. His alternative was to spend a year in jail.

With files from The Associated Press

[GMMAC]

Only "a little dicey" ???
How about fair indication the Judge involved has lost his mind ?!?!

[GMMAC]

PING!

[kinoxi]

starting Monday, Malcolm Watson will stay out of the U.S. for three years as punishment for having a sexual relationship with the Buffalo, N.Y. student.

WTF?

[Clive]

So it looks like residing in Fort Erie is prefereable to residing in a US prison.

They are going to have to do something about those US prisons.

[beezdotcom]

What's the message here? "Have sex with young girls, move to Canada." This may be grounds for judicial impeachment.

[Damifino]

So it looks like residing in Fort Erie is prefereable to residing in a US prison.

It's been awhile since I lived in WNY but Fort Erie's claim to fame was the horse track, casino gambling, underage drinking and prostitution. With all that going for a community what more could this guy as for in a sentence?

[saganite]

I bet the Canadians are thrilled to get our cast off molesters!

[AmericaUnited]

Here's a good 'Find Your Local Pervert' site:

www.familywatchdog.us

When you visit this site you can enter your address and a map will pop up with your house as the small icon of a house and red, blue, green, dots surrounding your entire neighborhood. When you click on these dots a picture of a person will appear with an address and the description of the crime he or she had committed.

[Fawn]

It's been awhile since I lived in WNY but Fort Erie's claim to fame was the horse track, casino gambling, underage drinking and prostitution.

Don't forget how the chinese restaurants got caught serving cat! That changed my eating habits in one day.

[LIConFem]

[Tribune7]

He is concerned that his client's new criminal record could prompt Canadian authorities to deny Watson entry.

[GMMAC]

More details, legality discussed here.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

It took me a second to understand why I was being pinged on this, but I get it now.

Little slow on a Monday AM...

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

For the curious:

Who is Ogie Oglethorpe?

Jim Carr: This young man has had a very trying rookie season, with the litigation, the notoriety, his subsequent deportation to Canada and that country's refusal to accept him, I guess that's more than most 21-year-olds can handle. Number six, Ogie Oglethorpe.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076723/fullcredits

http://slapshot.20m.com/photos/Ogie2c.jpg

[george76]

" Fort Erie's claim to fame was the horse track, casino gambling, underage drinking and prostitution..."

better than jail for the perp...?

[conservative in nyc]

Simple solution to a judge's idiotic ruling - Please just send him back to New York. Then, he'll go where he belongs in the first place - JAIL.

[GMMAC]

Aside from still having Liberal-inspired laws on the books which would likely easily permit this pervert to tie up the matter in our Courts for well over the the stated 3 years, if the Judge isn't nailed hard & fast Stateside, at some point this moronic decision will come back to haunt both nations.

And, since his bizarre ruling has no doubt drawn the attention of at least a few legal hacks on our Benches, why not make him a cautionary example for 'creative' and/or activist Judges on both sides of the border?

While a single year of jail time for statutory rape is pretty weak just about anywhere, a so-called "exile" which amounts to something considerably less than house arrest is appallingly limp-wristed - other than for a Canadian female pedophile teacher - even by our morally bankrupt sentencing norms!

[conservative in nyc]

New York State trial court judges are elected. It's up to the voters to throw the bum out. I wonder if the prosecutor can appeal the idiotic sentence.

I don't think it would take any long legal process to refuse to let this guy enter Canada at the border after he goes to visit his parole officer. Just denying him entry will force him to violate his exile.

[Ready4Freddy]

He already lives in Canada.

Essentially, one of the requirements of his probabtion is that he stay there. While I understand and might well applaud the requirement, I doubt that it will be sustainable under our immigration laws. And Canada may well refuse him entry at some point. The guy's gonna end up in jail here, I'm sure.

[conservative in nyc]

I read the original Buffalo News and AP articles. It's apparently not solely the judge's fault. As best I can tell, the sentence was part of a plea bargain agreed to by both the Erie County DA and the perp's defense attorney. The DA noted that the girl's family was happy with the deal. Both charges that he plead guilty to were misdemeanors carrying a year or less in jail.

The plea bargain was accepted by Cheektowaga Town Justice Thomas Kolbert. He's been on the court for 17 years, and last ran for election unopposed (and cross-endorsed by the Democrat and Republican parties) in 2003. He should be up for reelection next year. Cheektowaga is a suburban town of about 80,000 outside of Buffalo.