Common Dreams reports that:
This happened: Robert Richards IV, an unemployed heir to the du Pont chemical fortune who lives supported by a trust fund in a $1.8 million mansion, was given probation by a Delaware judge who ruled Richards would "not fare well" in prison even though he admitted raping his three-year-old daughter and, later, molesting his infant son. After Richards hired the best lawyer his money could buy to get him a plea deal in the 2009 case, Judge Jan Jurden ruled he would be better served by treatment than in prison where bad guys might hurt him - which is, coincidentally, true of so many other people currently rotting in cells, many of whom just, say, held up a 7/11 when they were broke, a crime considerably less heinous than raping your own children, except, see, they couldn't afford Richards' lawyer. The ruling has just come to light with the filing of a lawsuit by Richards' ex-wife, who is seeking damages for her children. So the next time someone tells you they believe justice is blind to race, class and money in America, do please tell them this story.
This is yet another reminder that we do not live in a true democracy. This is another case of affluenza, white privilege on crack. We live in a plutocracy where too often justice is manipulated, distorted and denied based on race and class. The system protects and defends devils like Robert Richards IV.
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