Former California Highway Patrol lieutenant Stephen Robert Deck was given probation for attempting to have sex with a 13-year-old in 2006. The officer was caught in an undercover sting operation set up by police to catch pedophiles in the act of trying to have sex with kids. Unlike most of the other 12 defendants in the case, who were sentenced to at least one year in prison, Deck was afforded probation simply because he wore a badge.
His attorneys fought his conviction for years, losing twice in appeals, but Deck eventually was granted a mistrial on a technicality. Now, instead of simply allowing the years-old case to go by the wayside, the Orange County District Attorney's Office is preparing for a possible new trial with hearings scheduled on July 16th. The Orange County Weekly described how the officer was able to have his conviction overturned in 2014:
In 2014, however, the Ninth Circuit overturned the conviction for an attempted lewd act upon a child. A non-unanimous panel of judges ruled that Mestman (prosecutor) erred in his closing statement on a technicality about when Deck, who worked at CHP's San Clemente office, intended to commit a lewd act on Amy.
Comment: What drives people to do this to themselves could be many and varied, and as this 'disorder' gets more exposure, one can expect there will be a rise in 'sufferers', even if for some it is genuine. But in the end, shouldn't we be encouraged to make peace with our bodies rather than try to correct what we were given?