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 state’s 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 court’s decision in the case.

“This child was a friend of Green’s 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 victim’s father following the hearing, Hertel said this is the court’s decision, and while he doesn’t 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.

Joseph Dale Green