In a state where at least 52 people are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for drug convictions, a man will walk free after he confessed to brutally raping a 13-year-old girl. Yes, really.
Benjamin Lawrence Petty, 36, pleaded guilty to felony charges of forcible sodomy, first-degree rape, and rape by instrumentation after he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl while working as a cook at a church camp. Instead of facing years in prison, Petty was sentenced to 15 years of probation.
Despite the fact that Petty used ropes to secure the child's wrists so that she could not leave, raped her, and then threatened her with physical harm if she told anyone what he had done, Murray County Assistant District Attorney David Pyle told NewsOK that he justified the lack of prison time in the plea deal because Petty is "legally blind."
Comment: It seems that you don't have to be all that blind to be considered "legally blind". How else could he manage to tie up her hands let alone work as a cook? Yet another failure of the justice system. See also: The American Nightmare: The tyranny of the criminal justice system