David Earls was recently sentenced in McAlester, Oklahoma to one year in jail after he plead guilty to raping and sodomizing a little girl when she was 4-years-old. The one year sentence for the Oklahoma child rape case has been met with outrage by citizens. Read about it and see his mug shot below.

david earls mugshot

David Earls Mugshot


David Earls received his one year jail sentence on May 13, 2009. His actual sentence was twenty years, but 19 were suspended. He is scheduled for release in September, 2009. That’s not even a slap on the hand for a man that admitted to raping and sodomizing a 4-year-old. He is alleged to have raped and sodomized the child’s 5-year-old brother, too, as well as forcing the brother to watch as he raped his sister.

According to the terms of his sentencing, David Harold Earls is to receive credit for time served in jail awaiting his trial. Does this make sense to anyone?

District Judge Tom Bartheld imposed the sentence, which also included two $500 fines and dismissal of a charge of performing a lewd act in the presence of a minor.

Defense attorney Tim Mills must be so proud of himself right now …. that’s one hell of a plea deal he accomplished. David Earls admitted guilt, managed to not have to face any charges in relation to the 5-year-old boy and got what amounts to a slap on the wrist for the rape of the 4-year-old girl.

This tragedy is the result of yet one more man dependent female allowing a cretin to be around her children. The 64-year-old Earls has been no stranger to criminal behavior and the court system. He served seven years in prison for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Rachel, the mother of the children, allowed Earls to move in with her when he received a medical parole release for cancer. She allegedly allowed him to sleep in the same bed with the children.

There has been tremendous outrage over Judge Tom Bartheld’s sentence. He defends himself by stating he merely accepted the plea agreement.

“I took a plea agreement,” he said. “The district attorney, child’s family, advocates and defendant all agreed to this, and I took the plea.”

The child testified in open court during a pretrial hearing. Earls was present. Before trial, prosecutors were trying to get the girl qualified to testify on closed circuit, a procedure to determine whether the child could discern between the truth and a lie, said Pittsburg County District Attorney J.B. Miller.

The judge did certify that the child could testify by closed circuit. But Miller said his assistants, a child advocate and her family feared she would freeze up and Earls could end up being freed. That’s when the plea bargain was reached — before the trial began.

Assistant District Attorney Miller had this to say:

We couldn’t keep her (the victim) in the chair long enough to get the questions out of her
…
We thought it was better to take a plea bargain to secure a conviction rather than risk not getting a conviction at all based on (the victim’s) inability to testify.

Attorney General Drew Edmondson said he is disturbed by the “lenient” deal. Gee, ya think?

Edmondson stated:

“There was a question in my mind whether there may have been other counts involving this victim that may not have been wrapped into the plea”

State Reps. Mike Ritze and Mike Reynolds today said Bartheld should be kicked off the bench for “gross neglect of duty.”

The legislators from Broken Arrow and Oklahoma City filed a bill that, if passed by the House of Representatives, would ask a state court to remove the judge from office.

“While it would be simpler and better if the governor or attorney general would step up and take this action, we have filed the resolution to ensure the process can move forward regardless,” Reynolds said in a statement issued by the House.

So this is how it’s done …. rape a child, then terrorize her further so she can’t testify, and the pedophile gets to live happily ever after. Another defense lawyer builds up a clientèle of high paying pedophiles that want the same sentence … David Earls one year sentence. Things that make you go hmmmm.

Bill O’Reilly, Fox News, has been caught up in the outrage and is doing all he can to rectify the most ridiculous sentence ever imposed on any living thing. While I’m not a big fan of Bill’s (too self serving too often) I applaud his effort to bring this case into the spotlight.

We must get serious about child predators; sentences should reflect our disgust at these miscreants preying on our most vulnerable in society.

We must also do something to stop parents from bringing home every John/Jane Doe they run across. They need it pounded into their psyche that if they can’t nurture and raise their own children, why do they expect a stranger too? We need to know the motive behind a person’s so called *love* for children, yet we don’t bother checking them out, because after all … “it can never happen to me’.

Well …. WRONG people. It can and will happen to you if you don’t start making your children your number one priority. If you can’t do that, then love them enough to consider adoption.

I hate admitting this, but right now I strongly feel that people should have to obtain a license to breed. Thanks, Generation X … or whatever you call yourselves.

What do you think of David Earls sentence?