View Single Post
  #4  
Old March 22nd 09, 04:27 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Peter Cole[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,572
Default The Impossible Redemption of Jonathan Boyer

Tom Sherman wrote:
Ablang ? wrote:
The Impossible Redemption of Jonathan Boyer
Does the best thing you do in your life make up for the worst thing
you've ever done? This cycling hero--and convicted felon--might get
closer to an answer than any of us.

By Steve Friedman

http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6...8493-1,00.html
[...]

Seaside, California, police officers arrested Boyer on May 16, 2002,
after a 17-year-old girl told them the cyclist had molested her from
1997 to 2000. She was barely 12 when it started. On September 12,
2002, he pled guilty to seven counts of lewd and lascivious acts upon
a child, and three counts of penetration by a foreign object or
genital penetration on a person younger than 16. He said he was
remorseful. On November 19, he was sentenced to 20 years in state
prison, a sentence that was immediately stayed, then he was put on
probation for five years, and sent to the Monterey County jail for a
year. At the sentencing, state superior court judge Gary E. Meyer
noted that Boyer posed little threat to the girl or to others and that
he was a good candidate for rehabilitation. Those are the facts. He
slept in a dorm with 60 other men. Breakfast was served at 4 a.m. He
read 50 books, including the complete works of Christian evangelist
Philip Yancey. He was released on July 7, 2003, after serving eight
months. In 2006, at age 51, he won the solo enduro division of the
Race Across America. His probation ended November 7, 2007. Those are
facts, too.

In some states, a 16-year-old who fondles his 14-year-old girlfriend
is guilty of a crime, just as guilty in strict legal terms as someone
who stalks playgrounds, snatching and raping children. If you can
accept that when it comes to sex offenses, even child molesting, there
is a moral spectrum of heinousness, then should we try to put Boyer's
crime--and Boyer--in some sort of context? Boyer thinks we should.
"It's too bad all those [criminal] charges get put in the same box,"
he says. "The fact is they're so varied, the charges. . . they go from
one end to the other. . . .you do have predators out there, the
perverts, you do have people who are bent on molesting countless kids
and who have issues with children. Then you have others who have
overstepped certain boundaries and get put in the same. . . uh. . .
same sort of description."

What exactly did Boyer do? According to court records, he twice "puts
[his] hand inside of Jane Doe's pants and touches Jane Doe's vagina,"
and "digitally penetrates Jane Doe's vagina" a total of eight times.
Once, during the act, he spoke French.

Boyer refuses to discuss the specifics of the crimes. His friends say
his public silence is to protect the girl, now a young woman.[...]


The girl was a post-pubescent adolescent, not a child. Having seen the
way teenage girls chase after older men, it was likely 50-50 that she
initiated the sexual behavior, and almost certain she was a willing
participant. Furthermore, she was spiteful and vengeful to only go to
the police after feeling jilted. Granted, Boyer was a stupid idiot for
getting involved with her, but that is hardly the same thing as
molesting an infant or pre-pubescent child.

Feel free to flame away.


Lots of issues, lots of denial. Sad. Creepy.
Ads
 

Home - Home - Home - Home - Home