At a sentencing hearing for an off-duty cop convicted of sexual abuse, a female Arizona judge told the victim she should blame only herself for the molestation, which happened in a Flagstaff bar.
The cop lifted the woman’s skirt and fondled her. He was fired by the state Department of Public Safety after his conviction. But the judge, who sentenced the cop to probation and community service, blamed the victim. “If you wouldn’t have been there that night, none of this would have happened to you,” the judge told the victim.
The judge later apologized but refused calls for her resignation.
Source: Michael Walsh, “Victim-blaming Arizona judge apologizes for comment in sex-abuse case, resists calls for resignation,” New York Daily News, September 8, 2012 h/t ABA Journal
Maureen Martin, a former legal fellow at The Heartland Institute, passed away on February 5, 2013.
