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Judge spares wealthy DuPont jail for raping his 3-year-old girl
by Joseph Earnest March 31, 2014
Newscast Media DOVER—Criminal justice officials are still reeling from a ruling issued by a Delaware judge, whose decision brings into question whether there are two tiers of the justice system in America.
What is most revealing about the verdict, is its confirmation that the privileged have a different justice system from the poor. Watch press conference below:
Robert Richards IV, the great-grandson of family patriarch Irenee DuPont, was convicted of raping his 3-year-old daughter, but was given probation because the judge believes the wealthy DuPont cannot handle the tough prison life.
Richards, who is unemployed and supported by a family trust fund, owns a 5,800-square-foot mansion in Greenville he bought for $1.8 million in 2005.
According to Delaware Online, Judge Jan Jurden's sentencing order for Robert H. Richards IV suggested that she considered unique circumstances when deciding his punishment for fourth-degree rape. Her observation that prison life would adversely affect Richards was a rare and puzzling rationale, several criminal justice authorities in Delaware said.
Richards' 2009 rape case became public this month after attorneys for his ex-wife Tracy filed a lawsuit seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the abuse of his daughter.
Delaware Online reported that according to the arrest warrant filed by a New Castle County Police Detective JoAnna Burton in December 2007, the girl, then 5, told her grandmother, Donna Burg, that Richards sexually abused her.
Burg said the child reported that her father told her it was "our little secret" but said she didn't want "my daddy touching me anymore." The girl said her father molested her in the bedrooms of her mother and brother in the mansion at 10 Summit Lane near Winterthur Museum, the arrest warrant said.
You may read an extended version of the verdict on the Daily Mail. (pop-up)
Tracy Richards, who confronted her then-husband, told police he admitted abusing his daughter but said "it was an accident and he would never do it again," the warrant said.
In the final analysis, it is the poor little girl who will face the physical and emotional scars for life, while the perpetrator walks. Add Comments>>
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