Rich Fellers

[trubandloki]

@JanM

Yes, there are so many sex offenders that they are in special sections of federal prisons.

I believe it is set up that way because the people in prison for sex crimes against children can not be kept safe among the other prisoners.

[MHM]

@OverandOnward

Englewood is rated one of the best for sex offenders.

Ugh. Rolling my eyes pretty hard at the fact that such a concept even exists.

[MHM]

@skydy

I think (considering the state of our criminal justice system) that 4 years incarceration, even in a minimum security prison, is a relatively good outcome.

I hate to say it, but I sort of wondered what kind of sentence he would have gotten if the judge had been a man instead of a woman.

[Jenerationx]

@skydy

It’s unfortunate, I agree, but he’s been sentenced to more time than many people get for the same offense.

I’m glad he got any time, but wish sentencing for sex offenders was harsher. They ruin lives.

[skydy]

I feel the same as you.

It also peeves me to no end that violent sex offenders are released into the community, and when they re-offend and make the news, I can’t help but wonder why anyone would think that 10 years incarceration in a maximum security prison will have made them any less dangerous.

I don’t have a solution to the problem, obviously we can’t lock everyone up for life, but I wish the justice system was able to sentence sexually violent predators for much longer terms.

[Mouse_amp_Bay]

Might matter more if the judge was hungry or not.

[MHM]

Hmm. That was interesting.

Without any actual knowledge on the subject, it sounds to me like that was an extremely small study to come up with such broad ranging theories. It sounded like a very small group of judges at one single location. So who knows what factors could be affecting their habits that would be completely absent from a different group of judges, or at a different location.

Maybe one courthouse has a much better cafeteria than the other, who knows?

[Bogie]

I’m glad he got jail time that was more than a slap on the wrist. Sadly, I’m sure people will continue to train with him after he’s released. It’s always shocked me that people continue to support coaches (in all disciplines) even when they’ve admitted to transgressions.

[skydy]

USEF members are not allowed to train with anyone banned by Safe Sport, so he won’t be training anyone who rides in USEF rated or FEI competitions. He won’t even be allowed on the show grounds.

[Annie10]

@skydy

USEF members are not allowed to train with anyone banned by Safe Sport, so he won’t be training anyone who rides in USEF rated or FEI competitions. He won’t even be allowed on the show grounds.

For some, that has been a mere technicality.

[skydy]

I don’t think that will be happening in this case.

[Mardi1]

If the judge had been a man, the options would be

1. Same sentence as what Fellers received
2. More time in prison
3. Less time in prison

The odds were 2 to 1 that Fellers would be sentenced the same, or longer, if the judge had been a man.

[MHM]

In theory, maybe.

[Rel6]

It would have been the same in this case. The sentence was jointly agreed to by the prosecutor and the defense attorney - no one was arguing for less - so as long as it’s not widely outside of the federal sentencing guidelines a judge generally isn’t going to reject that.

Under the federal system, you’re also required to serve a minimum of 85% of your sentence. Following that he has to serve 5 years of supervised releases, which a judge can tailor the conditions of based on the crime (for example, not allowed to create or use any social media accounts in a case where a perpetrator used accounts to find victims).

(I’m not saying there isn’t bias in the criminal justice system at all - but just in this case, where there was clearly some type of plea deal, it isn’t as relevant from the judge.)

[skydy]

Fellers will be a registered sex offender upon his release, and as such, will be on the Safe Sport ineligible list. Any registered sex offender is ineligible according to Safe Sport.

[Annie10]

And?

[skydy]

Regarding my reply to @Rel6’s post? As well as the federal sentencing guidelines and possible post release restrictions by the court and the 5 year supervised probation that Rel6 describes, the Safe Sport restrictions will also come in to play. So, many restrictions are possible from many entities. Safe Sport’s are written in stone however, re sex offender status.

[skydy]

@MHM

@skydy

I think (considering the state of our criminal justice system) that 4 years incarceration, even in a minimum security prison, is a relatively good outcome.

I hate to say it, but I sort of wondered what kind of sentence he would have gotten if the judge had been a man instead of a woman.

I understand that thought, but think about it. If a male judge had a daughter of the victims age, he may have wanted to come down like a ton of bricks on Fellers. I’m not familiar with all of the sentencing guidelines, but I know that in some cases, judges are not able to sentence offenders as they would like. There are limits to what judges can do.

[skydy]

@skydy

Fellers will be a registered sex offender upon his release, and as such, will be on the Safe Sport ineligible list. Any registered sex offender is ineligible according to Safe Sport.

@Annie10

And?

@skydy

Regarding my reply to @Rel6’s post? As well as the federal sentencing guidelines and possible post release restrictions by the court and the 5 year supervised probation that Rel6 describes, the Safe Sport restrictions will also come in to play. So, many restrictions are possible from many entities. Safe Sport’s are written in stone however, re sex offender status.

Do you understand my post now?

[MHM]

@skydy

If a male judge had a daughter of the victims age, he may have wanted to come down like a ton of bricks on Fellers.

Or if the male judge had a girlfriend the victim’s age or close to it, he might have had the opposite reaction.

Whereas I think just about any female judge would take a very consistently dim view of the situation.