A chorus of Republican lawmakers, led by House Speaker Mike Schultz, are demanding a Utah judge resign — or they could explore impeachment — after the judge did not send a man to prison who pleaded guilty to having child sex abuse material.
But the Utah courts said in response that 7th District Judge Don Torgerson followed the sentencing guidelines that the Legislature itself approved earlier this year — a rare statement for the judiciary, who typically does not publicly comment on individual cases.
Last week, Torgerson sentenced a 22-year-old Maine man to 112 days in jail, which he had already served, plus four years probation for possessing child sex abuse material. During the sentencing hearing, Torgerson twice mentioned the defendant’s “privilege,” including when the judge told him that 112 days in jail was “a lot of jail time for someone your age who comes from some level of privilege.”
Schultz blasted the decision following a KSL report on the sentencing, calling it “deeply troubling and indicative of a broader pattern within the judiciary” and said Torgerson should no longer be on the bench.
Absurd. A judge hands down a sentence well within the statutes written by the very same legislature and they’re still complaining.
I hope they do try to impeach the judge. As far as I can tell, the judge didn’t do anything wrong. But I’d rather the legislature wasted their time and effort on that than writing more stupid “non-punitive” registry laws.
This story just fully illustrates the smoke will never clear on anything “sex crime” related. You’d think after decades of this witch hunt circus we’d experience some leveling off and scaling back to a degree on the emotional theatrics, but heck no. The lawmakers are intentionally to blame for keeping everything stired-up, which I feel is intentional of course. It’s clear they’re using crimes of moral turpitude as outrage bait to stay relevant and appear “tough of crime” while benefiting from pile of stink politically and financially.
And of course all this outrage and animus is so lawmakers and law enforcement can continue with misleading the public and media with all their fake success with the stings, sweeps and compliance checks..
These people are such scumbags. The guy was 20, traveled to Utah from Maine and was housesitting for a family member and downloaded 10 files and these maniacs want his scalp. I gotta say I respect the Salt Lake City Tribune for not listing his name and apparently having a policy where they don’t list the names of people convicted simply of possession.
“I can’t send everybody to prison who views child pornography. There aren’t enough prisons,”
This judge sounds like a man with common sense. And you gotta love the comment section on this article in the Salt Lake Tribune! Those people aren’t falling for emotional political grandstanding over this incident. And I never knew there was so much disdain for GOP politicians in the Beehive State.
They want impeachment proceedings because the court’s own investigative process will take up to one year and will most likely find the judge was within his judicial right to sentence as he did given the law on the books which will embarrass the legislature. Feign mock outrage to distract from the fact he followed the law on the books they passed and had signed into law. He could’ve gone more than or waaaay more than the guidelines, but he didn’t and stayed within the guidelines. Either legislate judicial punishment laws or let the judiciary judge and execute as needed…legislatures/Congress have already handcuffed judges (pun intended) to the point there is no leeway of judicial discretion in sentencing w/o the fear of repercussions on appeal or re-election, if elected to the bench.
This judge and the judge from the Stanford case could form a club for judges who don’t bend to the whims of hysterical legislatures and society by staying within the guidelines (and recognize without saying it…the registry is punishment that will dog both gents in their respective cases as will the websites with info). I say bravo to this judge for having the spine to do what he did.
Too bad society can’t impeach elected officials like this easily as these knuckleheads can but have to wait for election day (or create a recall election day). Frankly, they need to face their constituents more often in public and their wrath against their political actions. Props to the paper for not naming names, but too often in UT the could be named are those who have family members in positions of authority in the church or otherwise in UT.
Why not get rid of all judges in Utah since the Beehive Legislature knows everything? Too bad we couldn’t send lawmakers to prison for enacting bad bills that become horrible laws in the name of protecting children.
I’d like to see these GOP’ers spend 112 days in jail, 10 years on the registry, and tell me that it was a walk in the park.