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Child
sex offender gets no jail time
Wanda
English Burnett
Editor
After Joseph Dale Green, 49, of
Osgood, pled guilty to Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, he received
a get-out-of-jail card from Judge Carl Taul. Instead
of the states recommended 12-year sentence with two years
suspended, Judge Taul gave Green only ten years probation.
The court proceedings took place in Ripley County Circuit Court
June 16, where the Osgood man pled guilty to the Class B Felony
in an open plea according to Prosecutor Ric Hertel, who expressed
disappointment from the courts decision in the case.
This child was a friend of Greens daughter,
Hertel told the Osgood Journal, when asked about the case.
He noted that the female was only 14 years old when Green began
grooming her. He said in court Green admitted to texting
the child and then driving to a remote location (near a school)
to meet with her. He said the two had oral sex in a car. This
was in February of 2008.
While the prosecutor argued justice for the victim, Batesville
defense attorney, Mark Jones, asked for leniency. He said Green
had been a long-time employee of Batesville Casket and had no
prior criminal history. The crime was also cited as a one-time
thing. The judge saw no aggravating factors in the case and gave
the defendant no jail time for the crime that could have carried
6-20 years imprisonment. Green was further reinstated visitation
rights, unsupervised, with his 15-year-old daughter.
While the prosecutor could offer little explanation for the victims
father following the hearing, Hertel said this is the courts
decision, and while he doesnt agree with it, it should be
respected.
Green will have to adhere to rules of probation for the next ten
years and register as a sex offender.
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Joseph
Dale Green
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