Man, 68, guilty of raping boy, 12 (Child rapist gets suspended sentence -- Massachusetts)

Worcester (MA) Telegram and Gazette ^ | 5/31/03 | Murray

[pabianice]

WORCESTER, MA - A 68-year-old Chino Avenue man was sentenced to jail yesterday after being convicted of sexual assaults on a child.

Joseph H. Garceau, of 95 Chino Ave., was found guilty by a Worcester Superior Court jury on charges of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child. The crimes, involving a 12-year-old boy, occurred between Feb. 1 and March 31, 1998, in Worcester.

Judge Francis R. Fecteau sentenced Mr. Garceau to 2/4 years in the House of Correction with one year to be served. Judge Fecteau suspended the balance of the sentence for five years with probation. As conditions of probation, Mr. Garceau was ordered to undergo any sex offender counseling recommended by the Probation Department and to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph J. Reilly III recommended a sentence of 2/4 years in the House of Correction with 18 months to be served. The prosecutor proposed the balance of the sentence be suspended for five years with probation.

Defense lawyer Margaret R. Guzman asked that Mr. Garceau, who testified at trial he did not commit the crimes with which he was charged, be spared a jail sentence. Ms. Guzman said it was unlikely Mr. Garceau would survive the sentence recommended by the prosecution, given his age and failing health.

Four other indictments against Mr. Garceau were dismissed at Mr. Reilly's request.

Those charges were unnatural rape of a child, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child and a morals offense. Mr. Reilly said he moved for the dismissal because the alleged victim, a female, had recanted her allegations against Mr. Garceau.

[pabianice]

As conditions of probation, Mr. Garceau was ordered to undergo any sex offender counseling recommended by the Probation Department

Another Liberal judge with his head up and locked. Court appointments matter!

[Blue Scourge]

What the hell, have we really fallen this far?!?!

[Chad Fairbanks]

What a disgrace...

[LRS]

Ms. Guzman said it was unlikely Mr. Garceau would survive the sentence recommended by the prosecution, given his age and failing health

Someone should help his health to fail a little faster, and to do so more painfully...

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Man, 68, guilty of raping boy, 12

Those charges were unnatural rape of a child, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child and a morals offense. Mr. Reilly said he moved for the dismissal because the alleged victim, a female, had recanted her allegations against Mr. Garceau.

Whats wrong with this picture ?

[lilylangtree]

Can hardly believe this idiocy. The judge lets this man walk. As a parent of a male child, this infuriates me to no end. This perp deserves no less than castration followed by lockup for 25 years. What message does this send to children? OK kids it's ok to rape other kids as long as you're an adult????? Does this judge think that pedophilia is a one time occurrence only because this criminal was caught? Now the molested kid will think that only a twisted, warped man can give him love and acceptance because the law said so. This judge needs disbarring and sent to jail where he can experience first hand how it feels to be raped.

[Blue Scourge]

heres an idea....lock him in a cage with a extremely aroused male silverback Gorilla, spray him heavilly with the sent of a female in heat, watch the dark-comedy ensue.

[Polycarp]

yes.

Always remember the words of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

As an attorney for the ACLU Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg co-authored a report recommending that the age of consent for sexual acts be lowered to 12 years of age ("Sex Bias in the U.S. Code," Report for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, April 1977, p. 102).

The paragraph reads as follows: "Eliminate the phrase "carnal knowledge of any female, not his wife, who has not attained the age of 16 years" and substitute a federal, sex-neutral definition of the offense.... A person is guilty of an offense if he engages in a sexual act with another person.... [and] the other person is, in fact, less than 12 years old..)"

<

[Delphinium]

I know someone who got more time than that for delivery of only i joint of pot.

[FreePaul]

Ms. Guzman said it was unlikely Mr. Garceau would survive the sentence recommended by the prosecution, given his age and failing health.

Tough. Reminds me of a local case when the sentence was pronounced the guilty party said "judge, I can't do thirty years." The judge replied "just do the best you can." That should have been the attitude in this case.

[pabianice]

Worcester District Court

Address: Worcester District Court

50 Harvard Street

Worcester, MA 01608

Phone Numbers:

Main Number 508-752-0663

Judge's Lobby 508-798-0009

Probation Department (508) 757-8350

Mailing Address

Criminal Pleadings: Worcester District Court

50 Harvard Street

Worcester, MA 01608

Fax Number: 508-797-0716

Main Number: 508-753-4116

Judge's Lobby: 508-752-6191

[Sloth]

A separate crime. I guess he's an equal-opportunity 'bi' molester.

[kdmhcdcfld]

For Massachusetts, this is par for the course...

[Blue Scourge]

...God bless liberal family policies....(sarcasm)

[RipSawyer]

Twelve year olds must not be up to what they used to be, when I was twelve the average twelve year old, male or female would have been way too much for a sickly sixty eight year old man to handle. Certainly if he had tried to rape me at that age one of us would probably have died.

[islander-11]

We (in Mass.) just got rid of one POS judge in this idiotic state (Maria Lopez) due to her cavalier attitude towards the prosecution of a child rape case. Here's hoping the trend continues...

WTF could that idiot judge be thinking? This rapist should be urged to rot in jail...

[GladesGuru]

Those court appointments sure do matter!

To play the role of either the Devil's Advocate, or an AACLU lawyer, or just a curious citizen - note that according to the posted article, the defendant denied having committed the crime. And another female child had RECANTED her testimony against the defendant.

Given the all to frequent witch-hunt attitude of child 'rights' advocates, the child abuse industry, and prosecutors wanting another notch on their convictions belt, it appears that this elderly defendant may have been given far less than a fair and impartial hearing.

Is it possible that the Prosecutor wanted to keep his notch, but felt so guilty (or feared being overturned on appeal) that he asked that the sentence be suspended.

In any case, the aforementioned merry band seems to have successfully replaced the assumption of innocence, which has always been a core construct of American Law(based upon English Common Law), with the quaint Napoleonic Code concept of guilt until proved innocent.

Barring DNA evidence, which was not mentioned in the post, what we have here is a "he said" vs. "he"/"she", but she recanted/ or one of the merry band says - situation. Traditionally, no evidence, no conviction.


Either there is evidence not presented in the post, or something sounds wrong here.

Blackstone must be spinning in his grave.

[kdmhcdcfld]

Isn't there a movement underway to hold the judges in Massachusetts more accountable to the people? I know the police chief from Holyoke testified on Beacon Hill about a month ago concerning this issue (he's upset about the minimal sentences given to criminals and the low bail that judges set for offenders).

[RLK]

Ms. Guzman said it was unlikely Mr. Garceau would survive the sentence recommended by the prosecution, given his age and failing health.

----------------------

Somehow I don't care.

[OREALLY]

The female child Recanted her testimony against the defendant.

This is not uncommon for victims of sexual abuse to decide that the legal process is as painful as the abuse itself.
I have worked with sexually abused victims and have seen them torn apart in court by vicious lawyers. I wish I could forget.................

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Curious....I wonder if people would feel the same if Joseph H. Garceau was a Priest?

What do you think? A simple yes or no would suffice. But I really am curious. Some seem to turn a blind eye when it's convenient.

[Righter-than-Rush]

Looks like a case for his neighbors to address. Just don't kill him.

[breakem]

Side story. A friend of mine was a correctional counselor at Folsom Prison. He had an inmate on his casload who was sentenced to 360 years. He told him if he worked and stayed out of trouble he could get that cut in half (the policy at the time in California was a day off your time for a day worked). We need more deals like that. 180 years.

[hellinahandcart]

Traditionally, no evidence, no conviction.

Traditionally, there was no DNA evidence. So do all other forms of evidence traditionally accepted in courts of law prior to the use of DNA not count to you?

Many rapes don't have DNA evidence. Doesn't mean the rape didn't happen. Many consensual acts DO produce DNA. Doesn't make those acts rape.

[MHGinTN]

The perp was convicted. The article is on his sentencing.

... recommended by the Probation Department and to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18. Think about the liberal idiocy of the above statement: if the man committed illegal acts (child rape), he's a criminal; how many criminals even pause over such idiotic commands by the Probation/Judge dolts? A criminal is going to break the law ... 'words will never hurt me'.

[hellinahandcart]

"judge, I can't do thirty years." The judge replied "just do the best you can."

That is just hilarious! :D

[GladesGuru]

You have raised an issue once thought to have been settled by Blackstone. He felt that it was better to free ten guilty than jail one innocent citizen, as the jailing of the innocent undermines confidence in justice and the core concept of presumption of innocence.

Blackstone knew quite well that the guilty will doubtlessly be arrested soon again - that's now known to be typical perp behavior.

Consider an inintended consequence of present policies I criticised in my post. Contemplate the societal costs of present policy, which imposes unnecessary dangers upon those who traditionally mentored the young, especially the young female.

Such mentoring is often an essential component to success on the higher levels of both creativity and productivity in many fields of science and the arts.

Those putatively 'protecting' minors in general would be well advised to re-read Edmund Burke's famous "Those who are loudest for the public good, have it least at heart."

Beware the lawyer and the advocacy groupies busy trying to undermine core concepts of our legal system. I fear thet judgements/settlements and salaries motivate many of that merry band.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Where was Orrin Hatch, Jerry Falwell or the Catholic Church during this corrupt fool's nomination hearings?

I don't remember any mention of Ginsburg's writing to lower the sexual consent age to below 12 years of age.

The homosexual agenda is driving the 21st century...right into the grave. And we who stand by silently and do nothing to stop it will suffer from its malignant consequences.

[GladesGuru]

I didn't say just DNA evidence. Please note that there was accepted physical evidence in the pre-DNA courts. But the present case is one in the DNA evidenciary period, and I still am uneasy with this case.

Perhaps such unease is from having read far too many cases where convictions occured and were later proven wrong. In fact, TV last night covered the problems with even DNA evidence, as the Houston crime lab scandal shows.

As to your reference to consensual acts, I said nothing of consensual acts.

[Salman]

Plain old burglars and forgers and such regards these types the same way we do. "One year to be served" may well be a life sentence.

[GladesGuru]

I agree with your summation of the "validity" of words in dealing with those who are true perps.

I was trying to communicate my misgivings with the case as posted, and my concern with how easily we seem to be willing to surrender the core Americal legal premise of presumption of innocence for the cause de jour.

[hellinahandcart]

Just pointing out that you were concerned about the lack of DNA, which can be produced by consensual, nonviolent, or even casual contact. Whereas it is sometimes certainly missing in cases of violent sexual acts, for a variety of reasons.

Testimony of witnesses IS evidence. It is up to the jury (and the case was decided by a jury) to evaluate the credibility of witness testimony.

But since this article concerns itself only with sentencing, we have no way of knowing what evidence was presented (for all we know, he could have been caught in the act). But I just looked around and was unsuccessful in finding any previous related articles.

[hellinahandcart]

There can also be a complete lack of *any* physical evidence of rape at all, if the victim were, say, intimidated into acquiescience by having a weapon held to their head or throat. Among other possibilities. The victims should still have the opportunity for justice. Their rights are no less important than those of the accused.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I think the sentence was light, but in fairness, the parenthetical in the headline is somewhat misleading as it suggests that all jail time was suspended. True, part of the sentence was suspended, but the defendant was sentenced to serve some prison time:

Judge Francis R. Fecteau sentenced Mr. Garceau to 2/4 years in the House of Correction with one year to be served.

[rebel85]

bump...aptly put

[SarahW]

Read again, carefully. The charges involving the girl were dismissed. There were OTHER charges involving the boy which he was sentenced for.

He was accused of sex crimes against more than one child.