Forcing a 15-year-old girl to give you oral sex inside your squad car
will get you 14 years in federal prison without parole. That's the sentenced former
Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy Steven W. Burgess received Friday for the July 2007 sexual assault.
The 36-year-old Independence man pleaded guilty last November to violating the teen's constitutional rights by sexually assaulting her while she was in custody.
The July 24, 2007, incident is disturbing reminder of how authority figures can abuse their power. Burgess was on-duty and in uniform when he encountered the girl and her friends in Haynes Park in Sibley, Missouri, around 2 a.m. Burgess ordered the girl's friends to leave, but forced her to stay behind with him. Then he handcuffed her, patted her down, touching her in a sexual manner, removed the cuffs and forced the girl to perform oral sex on him while he stood outside of his squad car. At some point, he forced her to get on all fours.
Burgess then dropped the girl off at her aunt's home, threatening her
not to tell anyone about the oral sex or he'd tell on her for drinking
in the park. She did tell, and now Burgess gets a 14-year stay in the
federal pen.
Prosecutors say Burgess violated the girl's right to liberty and due
process of law while also using force against her and making her fear
for her life, fearing injury and kidnapping.
This is an improvement on the 14-year suspended sentence handed down by a Jackson County judge in March 2008.
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i agree he needs more bause it was my lil cousin the ass did this tooo he better hope my famliy dont find him when he gets out it wont be a very good thing he need to spend his life in ther and i hope someone on that prision beats his ass soooo many times
When I read things like this, I can't help but wonder what has gone wrong with our legal system. How is it that a man can walk away, unpunished, after having taken the innocence of a child? This man's behavior clearly shows a lack of morale, a lack of boundaries, and a lack of remorse. Anyone who displays these qualities, whether or not they happen to wear a badge, should be put in jail, period. The real questions here are: How can ANY morally aligned practitioner of the law NOT seek imprisonment? Why is no one punishing the judge who made the decision to free him, and what can we do to try and prevent this from happening again?
When I read things like this, I can't help but wonder what has gone wrong with our legal system. How is it that a man can walk away, unpunished, after having taken the innocence of a child? This man's behavior clearly shows a lack of morale, a lack of boundaries, and a lack of remorse. Anyone who displays these qualities, whether or not they happen to wear a badge. The real questions here are: How can ANY morally aligned practitioner of the law NOT seek imprisonment? Why is no one punishing the judge who made the decision to free him, and what can we do to try and prevent this from happening again?
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