Love Tries to Retract His Plea Deal

Huntsville Times

The Huntsville Times is reporting this morning that admitted child sodomizer Jerry Wayne Love went before Judge Karen Hall yesterday with a new attorney to ask Judge Hall to retract his plea of guilty to sodomizing his adopted sons. He claims the plea was an "injustice."

The only injustice in this case is that he isn't in jail. He got the sweetest deal I have ever heard of.

Love, 51, of 3202 Overhill St. appeared in court Wednesday with his new attorney, Barry Abston, to ask Hall to set aside the sentence. Love and his wife appeared to be dejected.

Abston said in court papers that Love's plea was not voluntary because he lacked full knowledge of the nature of the charges and consequences of the plea.

"A withdrawal of the defendant's plea is necessary to correct a manifest injustice," the motion said.

The hearing on the motion was postponed because Assistant District Attorney Allison Palmer was unavailable for medical reasons. Hall said she will reschedule the hearing.

I hope Allison Palmer's 'medical reason' is from lack of sleep over her mishandling of this case. I wouldn't be able to sleep either knowing I had let this monster off to prey on another child.

And....Awwwww...the poor molester is dejected. But not as dejected as the kids he raped. This story also says that only three of the four boys the Love's adopted have been removed from their home. WHAT! Why is another child still in the care of these people? Not that I expect DHR to be of any help. After all one of the three boys that got raped was raped again after DHR removed them from the Love home....but why is a child still in that house? I also wonder how old this kid is? Shouldn't Love's probation have included a stipulation that he not be allowed around ANY CHILDREN?

If the judge sets aside the plea then Mr. Love would have to go back on trial...which, in my humble opinion, would not be a bad thing. From what I hear DHR had sexual abuse complaints on this swine for years....but the courts would never convict him so DHR just kept sending him kids to sodomize.

There needs to be an investigation into the actions of DHR in this case, as well as the DA's office for offering that deal and their recommendation that he not serve any jail time and into the Judge for accepting those terms. I understand that our Anti-Child Sex Predator Super Hero Troy King's mandatory minimums do not apply in this case because it was filed before those laws went into effect....but he could still investigate the DA's office and the Judge. However, if this plea is set aside King could step in and prosecute this case thereby taking it out of the hands of the inept idiots who let this man go free. There are those who will no doubt wonder if he would come out any better...especially after the and/or fiasco that recently played out in Autauga Co. But really, could he do worse than what was originally done?


Calling Troy King.........

How to file a complaint with the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission

This morning I have been pouring over the Alabama Canon of Judicial Ethics looking for any violations by Judge Karen Hall in the case of Jerry Wayne Love.

First let me say it is an incredible long shot that the Judicial Inquiry Commission will take any action against Judge Hall. In the complaint I filed four years ago the infractions of the judge were much clearer and I had the evidence and witnesses to back it up. This case is somewhat different. Having said that I still think it is important to file complaints against this judge. Even if they lead to nothing she will be informed that she is being complained about. The more complaints the more she understands that we are most unhappy with her decision to allow a child sodomizer to walk free after tapping his wrist. She did not have to accept this plea deal. So, if you are as angry as I am about this then file a complaint.

Seems to me like the first two Canons may apply in the area of Judge Hall taking contributions from a defenese attorney arguing this case.

CANON 1.
A JUDGE SHOULD UPHOLD THE INTEGRITY AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY.

An independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our
society. A judge should participate in establishing, maintaining, and enforcing,
and should himself observe, high standards of conduct so that the integrity and
independence of the judiciary may be preserved. The provisions of this Code
should be construed and applied to further that objective.

Commentary
Deference to the judgments and rulings of courts depends upon public confidence in the integrity and independence of judges. The integrity and independence of judges depends in turn upon their acting without fear or favor. A judiciary of integrity is one in which judges are known for their probity, fairness, honesty, uprightness, and soundness of character. An independent judiciary is one free of inappropriate outside
influences when deciding cases. Although judges should be independent, they must comply with the law, including the provisions of these Canons. Public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary is maintained by the adherence of each judge to this responsibility. Conversely, violation of the Canons diminishes public
confidence in the judiciary and thereby does injury to the system of government under the law. (Commentary adopted 8-25-2004.)

CANON 2.
A JUDGE SHOULD AVOID IMPROPRIETY AND THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY IN ALL HIS ACTIVITIES.

A. A judge should respect and comply with the law and should conduct himself at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.

B. A judge should at all times maintain the decorum and temperance befitting his office and should avoid conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice which brings the judicial office into disrepute.

C. A judge should not allow his family, social, political, or other relationships to influence his judicial conduct or judgment. He should not lend the prestige of his office to advance the private interests of others; nor should he convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence him.

Commentary

Public confidence in the judiciary is eroded by irresponsible or improper conduct by judges.A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety. He must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny. He must, therefore, accept restrictions on his conduct that might be viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen and should do so freely and willingly.

I'd say that even if it is legal for Judges to take money from attorneys that regularly argue cases before them that judges should not do so because it could be inferred that the outcome of a case was based on a political contribution. There is no way to prove it and that leads to erosion of public trust because we can never know.

I also want people to pay attention to the comments on this post over at FlashPoint. Those who have chimed in to defend the actions of the DA's office are beyond the pale. They seem to be stating that a worthless, toothless conviction, via plea deal, was more important for a notch in the Asst. DA's belt than actually getting justice in this case. They are also saying there wasn't enough evidence to convict, which raises the question of why then did they pursue charges? Is this man innocent or guilty? If he is innocent, or they thought he might be, then why pursue him in court? If, on the other hand, he is guilty, as the DA and the judge had to believe he was before accepting the plea then why did they accept it? Is this routine in Madison Co.? This case just doesn't add up no matter how you stack it and I want to get to the bottom of it.

In this post on my blog they go so far as to imply that since I do not reside in Madison Co. then I have no cause to be angry or say anything. What absolute nonsense.

I want to again encourage Alabama citizens to file a complaint with the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission, a complaint with Attorney General Troy King and a complaint with The Alabama Bar Association.

There needs to be a very big investigation into just what exactly happened in this case so that we can prevent it from ever happening again.