Posted on 09/14/2007 6:25:19 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
(He will seek appeal of judge's ruling on child enticement charge)
A stunned Sheboygan County district attorney said Thursday he will seek to appeal Circuit Judge Timothy Van Akkeren's decision overturning a man's conviction for trying to entice a 9-year-old girl into a park shelter to have sex.
Van Akkeren made his ruling just minutes after the jury handed down its guilty verdict Wednesday, saying that the shelter the man tried to lure the girl into wasn't secluded enough to satisfy the requirements of the charge.
According to a criminal complaint, Mitchell D. Pask, 44, of Sheboygan was charged in June with approaching the girl at a playground at Workers' Water Street Park in Sheboygan, offering her candy and asking her to follow him to a nearby shelter.
Pask is a convicted sex offender. The girl testified at Wednesday's trial that Pask asked her three or four times to accompany him, offered her candy and made hand gestures signaling her to follow him to the shelter.
A witness overheard Pask, who was drinking beer at the time, tell three other men standing nearby, "Look at those sexy little salty girls."
A 13-year-old friend of the girl witnessed the exchange and took her home, where the girl's mother called police. Pask was arrested a short time later, according to the complaint.
The jury visited the site on Wednesday as part of the one-day trial and found Pask guilty of felony child enticement after deliberating for about 30 minutes. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Van Akkeren immediately overturned the verdict, however, determining that the park shelter was not a "secluded area" as required for the charge.
In his instructions to the jury, Van Akkeren defined "secluded area" as "a place screened or hidden from view or remote from others."
That was the definition considered by the jury during its deliberations, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco said.DeCecco said he was "stunned" by Van Akkeren's ruling.
"In our opinion, any area can be 'secluded,' including a park shelter, trees and large bushes. The jury, having visited the site of the incident, obviously concluded we had met that burden beyond a reasonable doubt," DeCecco said in a statement.
"In my 18 years as a prosecutor, I've never had a judge do something like this," DeCecco said in a telephone interview Thursday.
Van Akkeren could not be reached. A judicial assistant said that Van Akkeren had instructed her to tell reporters he would not comment on the case.
Sheboygan police Lt. Jeff Johnston said he was "disappointed" in Van Akkeren's ruling.
"The officers who investigated the case clearly felt it met the legal criteria and feel they did a thorough and accurate job," Johnston said. "The jury was taken to the site and felt that burden of proof was met."
George Limbeck, Pask's attorney, said the only shocking thing that happened in court was that the jury found his client guilty, noting that the shelter "is four poles that hold up a roof" that is clearly visible from the surrounding area and is just yards from a street.
"I think they (the jury) were angry and upset with what he said to this girl. That's an issue of morality. But this is not about what's moral, or what's ethical, but whether there were sufficient facts as defined by law to convict him of the charge," Limbeck said.
Van Akkeren said in court that DeCecco overcharged Pask and that a disorderly conduct charge would have been more appropriate.
"The only people who are shocked by the dismissal are those who did not hear all the evidence," Limbeck said.
But that opinion isn't shared by at least one of the jurors.
Juror Gerald Dempski, 64, said he was stunned when he heard of Van Akkeren's decision.
He said jurors felt there were several places in the immediate vicinity of the shelter that would have provided enough seclusion for Pask to harm the girl without anyone seeing him.
He was also upset that the verdict was overturned despite the ordeal the two girls had to go through by testifying.
DeCecco said he will file a motion with Van Akkeren to reconsider his decision. If Van Akkeren denies that motion, DeCecco said he will ask the Wisconsin Department of Justice to appeal. By law, the department must handle such appeals.
"Our aim is to keep him where he is. We don't want him back on the street," DeCecco said, referring to Pask.
Pask is in custody in the Sheboygan County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail on a disorderly conduct charge.
In that case, Pask is accused of grabbing a woman indecently and telling her "you are my sweetie" while shopping at a downtown Sheboygan thrift store, according to a criminal complaint.
Pask was convicted in 1992 of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy. In February 2004, he was convicted of misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault; and in October 2005, he was convicted of a felony sex offender registry violation.
He also has numerous convictions for disorderly conduct and other misdemeanors and municipal citations going back to 1991, according to online court records.
In one of those cases, in July 2005, Pask was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct after he grabbed a 14-year-old girl by the arm at King Park in Sheboygan and refused to let go, telling her, "I love you, I won't ever forget you."
Pask has appeared before Van Akkeren in six other cases, online court records show. Those include the current misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and others for disorderly conduct, resisting an officer and bail jumping.
I have a feeling that there are many judges that are members of nambla. This is happening too often to be a coincedence, and - I know they’re lawyers - but they can’t be that disconnected from the rest of society.
Yes! After all child molesters have rights too, don't they and don't those rights transcend the rights of molested children and their parents?
Quite frankly, I believe that we should just shoot the bastards on the spot, no questions asked.
We had a judge that was soft on Pedophiles. Guess what, he was Geoghan’s lwayer before he was appointed to the bench.
Mitchell D. Pask, 44, of Sheboygan IS The Snoid From Sheboygan!
I would give him a break and the break would be in his skull caused by a collision with a baseball bat.
The judge ought to be made to spend time with the jerk he let go...but the pervs are the ones that are allowed to get away with anything they deem ok. Watch the following...got to love Becks outrage
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2007/09/13/beck.mcclellan.interview.cnn
why are these guys on the streets at all? oh thats right they have rights but our children dont.
Nambla might be the explanation.....Does anyone heve more info on this judge...marital status etc?
Perverts aren't all slack jawed inbreds. The Christmas Tsunami that hit Thailand proved that. Deviates come in all sizes shapes and backgrounds. That one resort town was/is infamous for child sex - which the MSM sure tried covering up.
(JMO but I think the judge's computer HD needs a once over.)
I’ll bet a lot of weapons just got loaded.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR LEGAL SYSTEM???
Yes, I’m shouting on purpose.
There is something seriously wrong with the legal system in this country. We bend over backwards to protect the “rights” of offenders. What about the victims? The legal system takes a victim and further victimizes him/her by putting her through the agony of a trial, and then vitimizes her again by letting the perp go free.
Society in general becomes victimized by this. It makes us all feel less safe and degrades the quality of our lives. Where are victim’s rights and society’s rights? Why are they trumped by the “rights” of the guilty?
Who cares if there wasn’t enough shelter. The crime is in his actions, not where it takes place.
How did this judge ever get on the bench? Who paid him off?
I’ve been thinking the same for quite awhile now too. Otherwise why do judges give such light sentences to repeat offenders and sex offenders in general?...This judge ought to be removed asap. I think there quite a few NAMBLA members that we would be shocked to find out who they really are.
America isn’t headed for destruction, it has already been destroyed.
I’m not sure if Bill O’Reilly’s on this yet or not but I sent him the link. Cockroaches like this judge need to have the light shined on them.
You have freep mail...
The jury, presumably, found that that definition was met.
The judge decided that it was not met, and the jury be damned.
Something seriously awry there.... There's got to be more to the story, somewhere.
As a former bay-stater, I believe these Pedophiles definitely do considerable networking...And Mass is definitely disneyland for any kind of perv.
A stunned Sheboygan County district attorney said Thursday he will seek to appeal Circuit Judge Timothy Van Akkeren's decision overturning a man's conviction for trying to entice a 9-year-old girl into a park shelter to have sex.
Van Akkeren made his ruling just minutes after the jury handed down its guilty verdict Wednesday,
Who is this Judge to overturn a juries decision before the defense has even filed an appeal.
For a Judge he does not seem to have much respect for our system of justice.
There had to be a preliminary hearing where a judge had to think there was sufficient evidence to send the case to a Grand Jury.
There had to be a Grand Jury that thought there was sufficient evidence to send the case to trial.
Then at last there had to be a Jury of the man’s peers who thought that this piece of Offal was guilty of trying to lure this young girl to a place where he could rape her.
This Judge obviously has no respect for our system of justice and believes that he is above the system and he alone can decide guilt or innocence.
He should be removed from the bench and given a mop with which he can clean up the court house. He has made a mess of it.
Dark alley.
Louisville Slugger.
‘nuff said.
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