Thursday a judge allowed a convicted sex offender to return home, not only while awaiting sentencing, but after he was sentenced.
According to the law, Clyde Eugene Williams will now be a registered sex offender. A sex offender who gets to go home with his wife and child, and not serve a day of his conviction until the court decides if he is granted a retrial or not.
The case began in 2012 when a female juvenile reported to law enforcement agencies that she had been the victim of molestation at Williams’ hands since she was 14-years-old. She said the crime had been ongoing for three years.
It takes great courage to report that such an act had been going on, much less for so long. It also took great courage for the young woman to see the case through to the end.
Right now it seems that all of her courage was for naught.
Even after being convicted by a jury of his peers, and being sentenced to serve 15 years in prison, instead of heading to a jail cell, Williams is now back at home with his family, and a 5-year-old child.
To be fair there may be aspects of this case unknown to us that led the judge to allow this man to remain with his family while under house arrest. But it’s hard to fathom on the face of what is known.
What is known is that a convicted sex offender was allowed to leave the custody of the state, without even serving a day of his sentence, to stay in a home with another child.
Incidents such as these make us wonder about the current state of our justice system. By simply filing an appeal, this man has found a way to avoid spending time in jail, albeit for another 15 days until the court decides if he is granted a retrial.