Damn, Imagine What He Could Get Away With If Dad Was a U.S. Senator

From the Mother Jones blog:

Clifton Bennett, 18-year-old son of Arizona state Senate president Ken Bennett, and his friend, 19-year-old Kyle Wheeler, were charged in January of 18 counts of aggravated assault and 18 counts of kidnapping. The charges refer to incidents which occurred at a boys' student government leadership skills camp in June of 2005, at which Bennett confesed that he and Wheeler sodomized several 11- to 14-year-old boys with broomsticks and flashlights in 40 separate incidents.

Wheeler has an additional assault charge based on his choking three boys until they passed out.

Yesterday, the pair was offered a plea agreement that will include no record of sexual assault; they will likely receive 90-day jail sentences, though the judge could reduce the charges and give them no jail time at all.

It was just hazing, you see, so despite some of the boys' having continuing problems as a result of their injuries, no sexual assault charges. Maybe when they get out they can look into careers as Department of Homeland Security spokesmen.

Comments

[Viking Moose]

apologists are lining up

in

three.
two.
one.

cannot muster enough rage about this type of bullying. have. short. circuited.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/members/kbennett.htm

interesting tidbits (from a while ago, obviously. poor little cliffie. can't even claim "middle child syndrome").

Personal Information

Home City: Presscott
Occupation: Small Businessman
Member Since: 1999
Born: Tucson, Arizona (1959)
Family: Married, Jeanne Tenney Bennett 3 children; Ryan 15, Dana 13, Clif 11
Republican, elected to the Arizona State Senate - 1998

____

more:

Education

Prescott High School
Graduated 1977 - National Honor Society

Yavapai College
1978, 1981 - President's Scholarship

Church Service/voluntary missionary
1978-1980 - Southern Japan

Arizona State University
Bachelor of Science - Accounting - 1984

_________

obviously an academic heavy hitter, too.

sure, the kid's an adult now. legally, at least. and we can take a play from the family values playbook and look at the parents.

however, the incidents took place at "a boys' student government leadership skills camp". that does sound like this current administration. so maybe that's why it's okay.

ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! will be in a fucking bad mood the rest of the day. argh.

[dhex]

bring on the motherfucking civil suits.

also: what the fuck is up with boys camps and flashlight sodomy? echoes of that long island football camp fiasco from a few years back.

doublealso: if he had done this to girls, regardless of age, they'd be in prison forever. male on male sexual assaults are just not seen as that important (cannot result in pregnancy, basically)

[bubba]

I don't understand why teenagers are so fond of each other's assholes.

I blame Will and Grace.

[Steven Crane]

True that, dhex; but it's also that society can conveniently pretend it doesn't happen among civilized (read: straight) people, and find it funny when it happens in, say, prison.

[Happy Jack]

Huh. I guess under the student government constitution he had some kind of inherent authority to set up Abu Scottsdale.

[Warren]

Let the punishment fit the crime says I

[independent worm]

You all should look at the Yavapai County Prosecutor's website. They have a special page dedicated just to the many inquiries about this case. Well worth a few minutes of your time, as the prosecutor's summary of events seems to clash pretty badly with the police reports they've posted and have invited everyone to read. Normally this happens the other way -- the prosecutor hypes some trivial thing and completely oversells it as some kind of public menace. But not here.

Amazingly, the prosecutor's summary of the case reads like a straw-grasping public defender, desperately trying to hair-split the difference between shoving a broomstick between buttcheeks over underwear, vs. shoving it actually into a naked anus.

It'd be comical if it weren't for the glaring fact that they're letting serial pedophile rapists who enjoy choking little boys and fucking them with broomsticks off the hook because of political pressure.

I encourage everyone to read the police reports, and email Sheila The Sexual Assault Abetting Prosecutor hear your thoughts about them.

[Ron]

The obvious double-standard employed here reminds me of something I heard about public perceptions of male homosexuality in Brazil, to wit: "If you are on the receiving end, you're gay, but not if you are on the giving end."

[JD]

independent worm - That "link" doesn't work...can you repost it? Thanks.

[bob]

That link is: http://www.co.yavapai.az.us/departments/Aty/AtyHome.asp

Apparently "student government camp" is good training for future govt officials. I can't tell you how many times some bureaucrat has made me grab my ankles...

[JD]

That report is just weird. On the one hand, it does make it sound less severe ("over their clothes"). On the other hand, some of their justifications are bizarre: "The victims were not secreted away to a hiding spot while this was done to them. It was done in front of the other campers. In fact, several photographs were taken by other campers." So, if I commit a crime in public, and people take pictures of it, it's not a crime? WTF? Also, they somehow gloss over the whole "choking three boys until they passed out" bit.

[Rhampton]

Party of family values, my ass!

[johnl]

If a socially cohesive group wanted to support a PR campaign that they have low crime rates or family values or whatever, one thing they could try is to downplay any crimes committed by group members. It would be important to get group members in positions in police and prosecutors offices.

[The Real Bill]

If this doesn't justify vigilante justice, I don't know what does. Personally, if this was done to my child, I would wait a few years while keeping track of these monsters. Then, I would find a way to "get revenge" on them without getting caught.

[johnl]

But you would be the only human and the replicants would know it was you.

[mtnplay]

I have sent letters to both the governor and the county attorney. The fact is, that regardless of whether the acts were sexual or not, they were clear acts of physical violence, and restraint. Assault and battery 101. The punishment does not fit the crime, and it wreaks of mormon and political influences. VOice your opinion. Don't go unheard on this issue. Take it beyond the blogs and let the governor know your opinion and let the county attorney know that you agree or disagree with the decision. The future is ours.