A week after a former Rochester, N.Y., police officer avoided prison time for a rape conviction, the prosecutor and judge have found themselves targets of harassment and threats. The case of Shawn Jordan, who admitted that he raped a 13-year-old girl, triggered national and international news stories because of what some saw as a lenient sentence. Jordan pleaded guilty to second-degree rape and was sentenced to 10 weekends in jail followed by 10 years of probation. "We've been receiving some pretty intense calls and text messages and even Facebook messages on our private Facebook accounts threatening our lives and telling us to kill ourselves and claiming we're worse than the person who committed the offense," said Kelly Wolford, who prosecuted the case. Judge Kristina Karle, has received similar threats, Wolford said. The threats have been reported to law enforcement, reports the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Wolford said the sentencing deal was driven by the lack of evidence, other than the girl's statement, and the fear of how the victim would be affected if she had to testify. She said she thought the girl, now 15, would have been severely traumatized by the testimony. Wolford said she and Karl have been the targets of "hatred and vitriol from across the county." The criminal case would have been far stronger "if I had a confession, if I had physical evidence," Wolford said. "I have none of those things." There was a more than a year between the rape and the criminal charges. Kathryn Robb of the Children’s Justice Campaign at the Enough Abuse organization said, “This sentence is the epitome of injustice and a dangerous nod to child sexual predators letting them know, ‘No worries, we won’t go too hard on you.'" Wolford said Jordan likely would have forced the case to trial without the sentence in the plea, fearing what prison could be like for a former police officer who raped a young teen. His electronic devices will be monitored while he is on probation, and a violation could lead to prison time. He also will be a registered sex offender; his classification will be determined later this year. "He got 10 years of probation," Wolford said. "If he messes up he could go to prison for seven years."
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