[credits: exposingtruth]
Thanks to his productivity and family success (one of multiple heirs to the SC Johnson fortune), billionaire heir Samuel Curtis Johnson III was only fined $6000 and given a prison sentence of four months for having (repeatedly) sexually assaulted his teenage stepdaughter.
Circuit Justice Eugene Gasiorkiewicz felt that because of Johnson’s importance within the community, his productivity was valued to be much higher than that of the harm he inflicted upon the victim; his own teenage stepdaughter whom he abused on multiple occasions.
The billionaire plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of fourth-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct, rather than receiving the maximum which would be a felony sexual assault charge against a minor child. Johnson’s stepdaughter previously told police that he was a sex addict who had touched her inappropriately on at least 20 different occasions, which started from the early ages when she was between the ages of 13 and 15 at the time of the assaults.
Inevitably, Johnson’s victim could not testify against him in the case, or rather she wasn’t allowed to. The defense team didn’t want to allow the victim to testify unless she turned over all her personal notes from her therapy sessions to the court and defense team. The girl refused to give up her privacy, to which a trial judge previously had responded to by proposing that the girl be allowed to testify but that she had to make sure that the jury was aware that she had declined to make her therapy records available to the judge, and therefore they could presume the records would have been beneficial to Johnson’s case.
In March, however, the Court of Appeals rejected that option and ruled that the girl could not testify unless she allowed a judge to see her mental health records. The girl refused to allow a judge to see her therapy session notes and therefore was not allowed to testify. Prosecutors were forced to make a plea deal with the defendant and his legal team. Johnson also received a fine of $6,000.
The defense team decided to argue that Johnson led a “productive life” and that for this reason his sentence should be lessened. After all, this was the first crime that Johnson had ever been charged with, so spouted his defense attorney Michael F. Hart. Felony charges would have resulted in a prison sentence of up to 40 years. For his sentencing, the judge ruled that he must serve just a mere 60 days before he will be eligible for release.
A billionaire unquestionably rapes and abuses a young teenager, is found guilty, and is given a lesser fine than some others would receive for having shoplifted or for having a marijuana cigarette in their pocket. Albeit, the fine is still somewhat higher than an other billionaire received for kicking his girlfriend 117 times, or for a Halliburton manager found guilty of destroying evidence from the BP disaster.
The most blatant injustice here was stated plainly by the Judge Gasiorkiewicz: that the court regards the defendants wealth as more important than the victim’s suffering. The court was literally dehumanizing the victim for having less wealth and power than the defendant: a complete lack of respect for humanity.
It seems that justice isn’t served and applied all too fairly when the accused is lucky enough that they can hide behind their wealth and social status. Being a business owner cannot rightfully afford you with the luxury of mercy for abusing other humans, and it should especially not bring with it lesser sentences for the same actions.
Unfortunately, by qualifying his behavior as a single instance of 4th degree sexual assault (which does not include penetration), the punishment is described in law to be no more than 8 months prison and a $10,000 fine. This is in itself a very light sentence for sexual assault, so not only was this particular judge demeaning the crime by qualifying the crime in as harmless a light as possible, but he also chose to give a lesser sentence within these guidelines. This was all done despite good reason to believe the abuse was in no way isolated to a single incident.
