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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'>Visionaries:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'>I'd like to know when Idaho in general and Latah County specifically decided that we wanted to be a <b>sex offender friendly</b> place where an astonishing number of those who irreparably harm our children don’t go to prison?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'>A friend sent me the article below, which was in yesterday’s Daily News, and words do not adequately convey my absolute fury that Judge Stegner has -- once again -- sentenced a sex offender to a light sentence. In this case, a 31-year-old man who raped a 12-year-old little girl will spend no real time in prison assuming he's able to successfully game the Rider program, which doesn't seem to be much of a challenge.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'>If someone like this doesn't deserve real prison time, then we need to reassess what the heck is going on, IMO. It looks like in January 2016, those convicted of sex crimes filled about 25% of our prison beds (vs 20% convicted of property crimes, 17% for drug offenses, and 4% for alcohol crimes).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'>I’m also confused about exactly what “about six month” program Hernandez-Nunez will be participating in because the last I knew, Idaho had only two Rider programs: the 90-day CAPP (Correction Alternative Placement Program) and the 120-day Traditional Rider Program. For those not aware, Idaho <b>used</b> to have a third Rider Program: a 280-day TC (Therapeutic Community) Rider Program, but we got rid of it last September, IIRC, because – what a shock – it didn’t work and was negatively impacting the state’s recidivism rates.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'>I am also shocked and disturbed to see that Judge Stegner seems to subscribe to “Greyhound” justice (telling the convict he can’t live in Latah County while on probation) without regard to the constitutionality while just a few months ago he went out of his way to make parental consent last for the rest of their lives for Steven Sitler’s victims who are no longer minors. And, let’s not forget that also not too long ago, he also ended another sex offender’s (Andrew Appleton) probation early and gave permission for Appleton to not only relocate to another country, but -- against the survivor’s express wishes -- to the precise area where Appleton’s survivor fled </span><span style='font-family:Wingdings;color:#1F497D'>L</span><span style='color:#1F497D'> One can’t help but wonder about the motives of such seemingly incongruent positions by Judge Stegner.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'>Throughout my years of observing the criminal justice system in Latah County, a very concerning theme I’ve seen is that in crimes against persons – women, children, the elderly especially – sentencing is too often unacceptably light. In the sentencing balancing act, the notion of rehabilitation is important, but so, too, are things like reparation, safety, deterrence, proportionality, and even punishment; Judge Stegner seems to have forgotten all about the later while focusing only on the former (rehabilitation).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'>Whether he realizes it or not – or wants to accept the reality or not – Judge Stegner’s notoriously light sentencing in crimes against people acts as a deterrent to victims’ reporting crimes and survivors’ willingness to cooperate with the justice system. And I, for one, don’t blame survivors for opting out given the ridiculously light sentences offenders in Latah County are likely to receive, which revictimizes the survivors and their loved ones. Survivors and those who care about them speak out on the Internet and on social media, and Judge Stegner’s reputation isn’t good in that Latah County population </span><span style='font-family:Wingdings;color:#1F497D'>L</span><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Saundra Lund<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Moscow, ID<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>Moscow man sentenced for rape of minor <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>Victim, family share struggles, shame they have since faced<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>Posted: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 12:00 am<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>By Samantha Malott, Daily News staff writer<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>Adrian Hernandez-Nunez was sentenced to a period of retained jurisdiction Monday morning in Latah County 2nd District Court after pleading guilty to raping a then-12-year-old girl in November 2014.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>The 33-year-old Moscow man was sentenced to a minimum of five years and maximum of 10 years in prison, with retained jurisdiction, by Judge John Stegner. He must also register as a sex offender. Hernandez-Nunez will complete an approximate six-month-long treatment program with the Idaho Department of Corrections. Upon completion he will either be ordered to complete the full prison term or be released on to probation, depending on his performance in the program.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>He was also fined $5,000, which will be paid to the victim, $1,500 in restitution to the Idaho State Police, $245 in court costs and additional restitution to be determined at a later date. A 10-year-long no contact order was also issued to include the victim, her father and grandparents.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>Hernandez-Nunez pleaded guilty under a plea agreement in March. Stegner said an additional requirement in the agreement, that Hernandez-Nunez cannot live in Latah County while on probation, will have to be further researched as to its constitutionality. Hernandez-Nunez's co-defense attorney, James Johnson, said Hernandez-Nunez entered into the agreement in "good faith" and will follow through on moving out of the county while on probation, regardless if it is ordered or not.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>The now 14-year-old victim said during a preliminary hearing in December that she engaged in sexual intercourse with the then 31-year-old man inside his former home. The girl was reported as a runaway and was picked up later that night by police at his house.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>In a statement read in court Monday on her behalf, the victim wrote she has been damaged in many ways during her life through sexual abuse, and what made the incident different with Hernandez-Nunez was that "it was my final breaking point."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>"Everyday I look at myself, I feel ruined," she wrote.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>The victim's father said during the hearing that his daughter spent five months in the hospital following the incident.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>"He has changed my daughter's life forever. ... She feels dirty and taken advantage of," he said. "(Hernandez-Nunez) is a father himself. What will his daughter think of him when she gets older?"<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>__________<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:.5in'>Samantha Malott can be reached at (208) 883-4639, or by email to smalott@dnews.com.<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>