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  A Punishment Tale in Black and White
Mother Whose Son Is Serving Time Sees Inequality in Priest's Sentencing

By Mary Mitchell
Chicago Sun-Times
July 5, 2007

http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/456515,CST-NWS-mitch05.article

Patricia Jones can't believe it. Although the Rev. Daniel McCormack pleaded guilty to molesting five Catholic school boys, a judge handed down a 5-year sentence -- essentially one year for every boy McCormack confessed to molesting.

Her own son got six years when he pleaded guilty to having sexual contact with a 12-year-old girl who allegedly was on the street selling sexual favors at 4 in the morning.

"I am very bitter and very angry," Jones told me during a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Five years ago, her son Denard Watson went on a binge to celebrate his 22nd birthday.

"He was out riding up and down the street and picked up two girls who were walking the street at 4 a.m.," Jones said. "One of the girls performed oral sex and afterwards she told my son she wanted money. He told her he didn't have any money, and she told him if he didn't pay, she would call the police and accuse him of rape."

Obviously, Watson knew where to go looking for trouble. There's no question that he brought what follows upon himself. Still, bear with me.

According to Jones' mother, when her son refused to pay for the sex, the girls jumped out of his car -- taking his leather jacket with them.

'I am not proud of what he did'

Watson was a couple of blocks away when he realized that the jacket was gone. When he returned to look for it, a squad car was on the scene. That's when he learned that the girl who performed oral sex was only 12 years old.

"I am not proud of what he did," Jones said. "It happened. He wound up being charged with sexual assault, and I didn't have no money to hire a private attorney. So we had to deal with a public defender. He didn't get a jury trial. He took a plea deal."

Her son wanted a jury trial, but Jones said she talked him out of it after he saw how the 12-year-old would be presented in court. "They brought her to court dressed like a little girl with barrettes in her hair," Jones said. "I knew if a jury of 12 people saw her like that, they could have sent my son away for 90 to 100 years."

Under the plea agreement, Watson was sentenced to six years in state prison and had to serve 85 percent of the time. He also has to register as a sex offender when he gets out.

You can understand why. There is a special place in hell for authority figures who sexually violate children.

"This man knew how young these kids were. I'm not glorifying what my son did. All I'm saying it's not right," Jones said. "But it showed me something that my older son has been telling me all along. We have a black-and-white justice system."

Of course, no matter how many times I point out this inequity, a lot of people don't see it.

Scooter gets off, young blacks get life

Maybe President's Bush's commutation of Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 30-month jail sentence -- a punishment he deserved for obstructing justice and lying to the grand jury -- will open their eyes.

Since taking office, Bush has used his power to discourage federal judges from challenging the draconian drug sentencing laws -- laws that have put an unthinkable number of young black men in prison to serve sentences that might as well be life terms.

Talk about harsh, these mandatory minimum sentences have resulted in grandparents and great-grandparents being left behind to raise young children, and children being so filled with anger that they have no empathy for others and no love for themselves.

But Bush didn't do a thing to address this inequity.

Now he justifies rescuing a friend and loyal staff member from a prison cell by arguing that 30 months in jail is too harsh. That's insulting and outrageous, but it also explains why a lot of people in distressed neighborhoods have nothing but contempt for the law and law enforcement.

Quite often, in the case of ordinary people, the punishment really doesn't fit the crime.

Jones, who lives in Section 8 housing, is now worried about where her son will live when he gets out of prison because, as a convicted sex offender, he cannot live with her.

"The priest case grabbed me," Jones said. "McCormack will get out in 2½ years and then the archdiocese will take care of him. My son might as well move to the Himalayas and live in a cave."

Contact: marym@suntimes.com

 
 

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