The Other McCain

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#Kavanaugh Hearing Update: A Few Thoughts on Prosecutorial Discretion

Posted on | September 27, 2018 | 2 Comments

Remember the Kaitlyn Hunt saga?

While watching today’s morning session of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, I found myself thinking about that 2013 case, in which an 18-year-old former high-school cheerleader was caught in a lesbian affair with a 14-year-old girl. When that story made nationwide headlines, I took alarm because the so-called #FreeKate movement was trying to put a “gay loophole” into statutory rape laws.

As the case progressed, I had frequent occasion to mention that Hunt had been offered a plea bargain and had, unwisely, refused that offer.

No prosecutor wants to take a statutory rape case to trial because, in most such cases, it involves an underage person who was a willing participant in this sexual activity which, as a matter of law, made her a victim. Generally, the underage victim does not want the accused person to go to prison, but the crime has been brought to attention of the police by the minor’s parents, and this puts the prosecutor in a difficult spot. If clear evidence of the illegal sexual relationship exists — as in the Hunt case — the prosecutor would be derelict in his duty if he failed to bring charges. However, he doesn’t want to spend the taxpayer’s money for a trial that would require him to put the minor victim on the witness stand, to endure cross-examination by the defense attorney. Therefore, in such cases, a plea-bargain is offered and, in almost every case, the accused takes the deal. Why didn’t Hunt take the plea?

Politics — she and her parents believed she was a victim of “homophobia,” and that they could mobilize gay-rights activism on her behalf, thus forcing the prosecutor to drop the charges. Oops.

 

Kaitlyn Hunt went to jail because of that miscalculation, and I’m watching this Kavanaugh hearing with the same sense of regret I felt as I watched the Hunt case hurtle toward a predictable disaster.

This didn’t have to happen. When Christine Blasey Ford contacted Diane Feinstein in July, she said she wanted to remain anonymous. Feinstein could have done many things with this. Among other things, she could have informed the Judiciary Committee chairman, Senator Grassley, about this information she had received. Instead, Feinstein held onto the letter for weeks, and it was not until Sept. 13 — after Judge Kavanaugh had sat through more than 30 hours of hearings — that Feinstein went public with this startling accusation. Those of us who, as conservatives, find ourselves forced to defend Judge Kavanaugh, are not responsible for the consequences of Feinstein’s decision. This was her exercise of prosecutorial discretion, as it were, and the entire responsibility rests on Feinstein and the Senate Democrats.

Don’t blame me, in other words, because circumstances compel me to cast doubt on Professor Ford’s credibility. That’s like people who kept yelling “homophobia” at me during the Kaitlyn Hunt ordeal.

Really, I’m just a guy with a blog. I can’t tell other people what to do. Dianne Feinstein didn’t ask for my advice, and all I can do under these circumstances is to fight the battle thrust upon me. Selah.



 

Category: Senate, Supreme Court

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2 Responses to “#Kavanaugh Hearing Update: A Few Thoughts on Prosecutorial Discretion”

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