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No jail time for high schooler who kicked coat hanger up teammates rectum

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Teen pleads guilty in Dietrich locker room attack

(lock if old)

A Dietrich high school football player originally charged with sexually assaulting a black, mentally disabled teammate after an October 2015 football practice pleaded guilty to a lesser felony Friday, and prosecutors now say it wasn’t a sex crime or racially motivated.
John R.K Howard, 19, of Keller, Tex., pleaded guilty Friday in a Twin Falls courtroom to a felony count of injury to a child. He will be sentenced to two to three years of probation, which he’ll likely be able to complete in Texas, and prosecutors will recommend he be ordered to serve 300 hours of community service.

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But Howard will avoid prison or jail time and could ultimately have his conviction dismissed if he successfully completes probation without violations or committing new crimes. And by submitting an Alford plea, he maintains his innocence while acknowledging prosecutors would likely be able to win a conviction at trial.
But Hemmer also told Stoker that while Howard’s behavior was “egregious” and caused the victim “a lot of suffering,” it was not a sex crime, and that’s why the attorney general’s office amended the charge to the lesser felony. Court reports said a clothes hanger had been kicked into the victim’s rectum.

“We don’t believe it’s appropriate for Mr. Howard to suffer the consequences of a sex offender,” Hemmer said. “But he still needs to be held accountable.”


Despite the court proceedings, a $10 million civil lawsuit filed by the victim is still making its way through U.S. District Court. It claims the locker room attack was the culmination of months of “severe and pervasive harassment, racial discrimination, mental and physical assault and battery.” It claims the district, school administrators and football coaches were aware of or should have been aware of the abuse.

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The civil suit does not name Howard as a defendant but did single him out “as a large and aggressive male who had been sent to live with his relatives in Idaho due to his inability to keep out of trouble in Texas.” The civil suit claims Howard “brought with him from Texas a culture of racial hatred toward” the victim, and that his bullying was ignored by administrators and coaches “at least in part due to his athletic ability and community connections.”

The civil suit accuses Howard of humping and taunting the victim during football practices, forcing him to learn a Ku Klux Klan song while displaying a Confederate flag, knocking him unconscious during football camp as coaches and players cheered in a circle, and calling him racially charged names like “Kool-Aid, chicken-eater, watermelon and nigger”


Oh and the victim? Since the assault, he's tried to kill himself and suffers from constant flashbacks to the crime. What's a family to do when the prosecutor cares more about the perpetrator's well being than the victim? And refuses to charge appropriately? This failure of the justice system is inviting the victim's family or friends to do vigilante things.
 

Linkura

Member
Of course the victim was black.

Fucking disgusting. This ADULT absolutely deserved jail time for a hate crime and rape.
 

CHC

Member
✓ The south
✓ Black victim
✓ White perpetrator
✓ No jail time

Sounds about right
 

Media

Member
This is revolting. At this point, I kinda want to ban competitive sports from high school. It creates this culture of worship that let's it's gods get away with anything. We see it over and over again.
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
boiling.

and i know appearances have nothing to do with this, but he could not have a more punchable looking face.
 

ezekial45

Banned
White Privilege at work. Get used to this for the next 4 or 8 years, we're gonna see more of these stories pop up in frequency.
 

Busty

Banned
It's so surreal (kicking a coat hanger?????) that it's almost hard to gauge just how fucking monstrous this was.

That poor kid. :(

Urgh.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
"Wasn't racially motivated."
*insert history of racially motivated abuse*

"Wasn't sexually motivated."
*insert literal sodomy*
 

Media

Member
BTW, everyone blaming Texas, the crime and trial occurred in Idaho, the asshole was just from Texas.

Idaho: worse than Texas
 

CHC

Member
I mean, I GUESS it's fair though - putting him in jail with all those scary people would just be inhumane for such a young and promising athletic star, right?

Right? Seems fair! Totally!
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
It's so surreal (kicking a coat hanger?????) that it's almost hard to gauge just how fucking monstrous this was.

That poor kid. :(

Urgh.

this dude sounds pure fucking evil. the kind of evil that if you saw it in a movie you would dismiss it as unrealistic and two dimensional.
 

commedieu

Banned
Ah, makes sense. White people generally get away with abuse towards minorities, and the justice system doesn't work the same way for minorities.
 

Strimei

Member
Jesus Christ, I clenched hard just reading the title. Poor kid, and fuck this guy for getting so light a sentence. What the hell.
 

AoM

Member
I'm imagining a future boss of his finding out he did this...

and then I realized some sort of nepotism will likely be involved anyway.
 

entremet

Member
✓ The south
✓ Black victim
✓ White perpetrator
✓ No jail time

Sounds about right

Don't forget this one: "boys will be boys"

What's with the homoerotic implications of hazing practices as well? I've always found that baffling. Mostly because the cultures that promote hazing tend to be intensely homophobic.
 

Media

Member
Don't forget this one: "boys will be boys"

What's with the homoerotic implications of hazing practices as well? I've always found that baffling. Mostly because the cultures that promote hazing tend to be intensely homophobic.

Outlet for angry, self hating closet cases or turning boys into 'bitches' is the worst insult you can give.
 
Don't forget this one: "boys will be boys"

What's with the homoerotic implications of hazing practices as well? I've always found that baffling. Mostly because the cultures that promote hazing tend to be intensely homophobic.

Its a dominance thing. They're forcing them to be "the woman" which is the nature of homophobia. They are somehow less or going against what society sees as normal.
 

Damaniel

Banned
✓ The south
✓ Black victim
✓ White perpetrator
✓ No jail time

Sounds about right

✓ Football player

In many places, football is more important than education, and especially more important than justice.
 

Naudi

Banned
This is revolting. At this point, I kinda want to ban competitive sports from high school. It creates this culture of worship that let's it's gods get away with anything. We see it over and over again.

That would do way more harm then good.
 

Johndoey

Banned
Edit: Idaho

Still basically going down the checklist of awful excuses for hideous behavior. It's not a sex crime? Really?

And even if it doesn't rate as a sex crime, it's assault with a weapon.
 

Wiseblade

Member
Not being a sex crime makes sense, but hate crime? I don't buy that for a second. Regardless, how do you not get jail time for what is clearly assault?
 

studyguy

Member
I don't know how one can literally talk about a guy kicking a coat hanger up another dude's ass and not talk about jail time. Like that seems beyond a reasonable doubt a severe enough action to result in equally heavy handed justice. Gross.
 
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