LEFTIST JUDGE BACKS DOWN OVER LETTING OFF CHILD-MOLESTER

A judge who was widely vilified for giving a child molester a 60-day jail term imposed a new sentence Thursday, increasing the man's prison time to three to 10 years. Judge Edward Cashman said he felt he could now impose the longer sentence because the state had agreed to provide treatment to the man while he is behind bars. The state had initially said such treatment would not come until after the man served his time.

Mark Hulett, 34, pleaded guilty to charges that he had sexual contact with a girl during a four-year period beginning when she was 6. At the original sentencing, Cashman said the best way to ensure public safety was to get Hulett out of prison so he could receive sex offender treatment. Because the Corrections Department concluded that Hulett wasn't likely to reoffend, he wouldn't be eligible to receive sex-offender treatment until he reached the end of his jail term.

After Cashman announced the initial sentence, Gov. James Douglas called for the judge to resign and several lawmakers suggested he be impeached. Douglas said Thursday he considered the new sentence to be too lenient. "It's 18 times 60 days, so it's certainly an improvement," said the governor. "Personally I think it's inadequate for a crime of that magnitude, but it is certainly better than the first decision."

In his order Thursday, the judge remained firm in his original belief that sentences must be concerned with more than just punishment. "The court agrees a punitive response -- punishment -- is a valuable and necessary component of society's response to criminal conduct," he said. "It is a tool that the court has routinely used for the past 24 years on the trial bench. As stated during the sentencing hearing, however, punishment is not enough of a response in some cases. "This is one of those cases," he said.

Attorney General William Sorrell had also hoped for longer than three years, but he praised the judge for making the change. "I would have rather seen it be a longer sentence as a message to other would-be offenders, but I think Judge Cashman is big enough to change course," he said. The victim's family left the courtroom without comment. Hulett's lawyer, Mark Kaplan, said he thought the sentence was fair, adding, "I think it makes sense under the circumstances."

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JUDGE HELPS LAWBREAKER JOIN THE POLICE-FORCE!

A Queensland judge has ordered a man's criminal conviction for the carnal knowledge of an underage girl not be recorded so he can join the police force. Brisbane man Stephen Douglas King, 19, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court today to one count of unlawful carnal knowledge of a 13-year-old girl. The court was told in April, 2004, when King was 17, he formed a relationship with the young girl who had just turned 13. The pair had sexual intercourse a number of times and eventually the girl fell pregnant. They are no longer together.

Judge Ian Wylie sentenced King to 160 hours of community service. However, he ordered a conviction not be recorded because King told his counsel he wanted to join the Australian Federal Police. Judge Wylie said a conviction would hinder King's chances so he would refrain from imposing it, but said he wasn't certain King would make much of a police officer.

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