Florida judge has compassion for child predator
This is just sick. Middle school art teacher, Aaron Mohanlal, is walking around free thanks to Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold.
For nearly two years, the South Florida middle school art teacher forced the boy to have sex in a classroom supply closet.
Sometimes, Aaron Mohanlal would call in sick to work, take the boy to his home for sex and drop the seventh-grader back off at school at the end of the day.
To keep the abuse secret, Mohanlal bought the 13-year-old a cell phone and created nicknames for their genitalia. When police arrested him, the teacher was caught on hidden video trying to destroy letters threatening the boy if he ever told.
Last summer, a Broward County jury convicted Mohanlal of 13 counts, including child abuse, molestation and lewd battery, and a judge sentenced him to 43 years.
But a year later, Mohanlal has yet to spend a day in prison.
Not a day?!?!
Of course, it wasn’t too long ago that CNN was spotlighting the “horrible treatment” of sexual predators in Florida.
My solution remains:
15 Responses to “Florida judge has compassion for child predator”
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the way this reads to me is the prosecutor screwed up so magnificently that the appeal will likely overturn the case. The judge is playing CYA for himself, the county and the state. If it is bad enough that one of the more conservative judges in a place like Broward county is playing CYA then you can bet the prosecutor is heading for disbarment.
Please can I have this Judges email so I can [editor: comment edited]
Brad,
What leads you to believe that? From the article:
procedural error is different from prosecutorial misconduct. Since most of the records about this case are still not public including what went on behind closed doors, we really don’t know everything that was done, not done. The CNN article this was snipped from is not the only one out there about this case. Some of them do give hints that the prosecutor screwed up.
The big reason I think the prosecutor screwed up so big the judge had to do this is we are talking about Broward County Florida. You don’t get to be a judge there with out passing the neocon litmus test. You simply are too liberal if you can say evolution with a straight face. I just can’t picture a judge known as a conservative by broward county standards letting this happening without a damned good rason.
Ah, well, that clears it up.
Unhappy with the judge’s decision? Send your comments to him at:
marc.h.gold@17th.flcourts.org
Brad, don’t you think if there was prosecutorial misconduct, the defense attorney(s) would point that out to reporters who are asking WTF is going on? quite to the contrary, and as Doug points out, the defense attorney admits there were no procedural problems with the trial. You say prosecutorial misconduct isn’t a procedural problem. But you’re wrong!
Given all the evidence they have against this guy, I imagine, on appeal, that any procedural problems will be considered harmless error or excused under one of the many exceptions to the exclusionary rule, or what have you.
I would love to see some of your articles “hinting” at the prosecutorial misconduct angle, because my searches all turn up empty. ie,
http://news.google.com/news?complete=1&hl=en&q=Aaron%20Mohanlal%20%22prosecutorial%20misconduct%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn
http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&complete=1&hl=en&q=Aaron+Mohanlal+%22prosecutorial+misconduct%22&btnG=Search
Brad, you are a jackass. No one needs your conjecture regarding why child molesters run free in broward county. If the prosecutor pulled out his johnson & pissed on the guy, he still should not be free pending his appeal. Try your best not to be a moron please. Did u ride a short bus to public school a**hole?
Travis – Do a google search with your eyes open, and you will find a lot more articles. It is very good you know how to use wikipedia and cite it repeatedly. There is big difference though between what gets glossed over there and what the reality of legal practices are. There is also a very big difference between a prosecutor screwing up and didn’t hand over some bit of trivial evidence (though we have disbarred prosecutors over that) and the kind of blatant misconduct no one talks about until you are back in front of a panel of judges.
Zach, lets please have your conjecture as to why you think the judge let the guy run free? Please do tell. Open your mouth and tell us how a judge known as one of the most conservative judges in one of the most socially conservative place in this country lets a child molester run free? Don’t tell us it happened, we know that, and none of us like it. Please do give us your conjecture, jackass. Is it possible you haven’t thought this through?
Haha…pot, kettle…
Brad, please do provide some links to info on Marc Gold or quit claiming that he is “known as one of the most conservative judges” and had to pass “the neocon litmus test.”
brad, do you write for the infamous jaablog, by chance?
how about you pass along even one article. you can even email the defense attorney yourself and ask for a statement.
wow, someone who’s just been embarrassed to find out he’s completely wrong about something makes fun of being refuted with links to wikipedia. that’s original.
it doesn’t matter what the difference between the courtroom and the wiki is. you said prosecutorial conduct is not a procedural issue. it is. i didn’t link to a west hornbook because i don’t have a hyperlink to my bookshelf, and i figure if you don’t know that prosecutorial misconduct is a procedural defense, a wikipedia summary should be all you can handle.
but it appears even that was too much for you to take.
I’ve been checking back, eagerly awaiting your response, Brad. I’ve been enjoying this little exchange. I’m rooting for you, since you seem to be the underdog (since this is Travis’ blog and all . . . oh, and since you appear to be losing badly in this pseudo debate)–so please get some more ammo and re-join the fray.
when you don’t know what you are talking about. Sorry, Brad, but Broward County is one of the most liberal in the State of Florida. It swings democratic in almost every election. I also don’t know where you’ve heard of Judge Gold’s conservative reputation. He is known as one of the 2 most liberal and defendant friendly judges in all of the County. Lastly, if the prosecutor made so many mistakes the Judge could have granted a motion for new trial, which he didn’t.
Sometimes,
Thanks for the insight. I was too lazy to go check election results before. Obviously, you are spot on. Here’s the results from Broward in the last two presidential elections:
2004
Bush 244,674
Kerry 453,873
2000
Bush 177,902
Gore 387,703