Jeralyn is covering the story and has some interesting thoughts and updates:
The facts are ugly. You can read the criminal complaint here. My first thought was he needed to be put on a suicide watch.
He's now got a terrific lawyer, James Thomas of Detroit. Jim got him taken off the suicide watch saying he's confident it's not necessary. He also waived the detention hearing, which means Atchison will be held without bond pending trial or reconsideration.
The grand jury has already returned a three count indictment against him, available here(pdf). One of the charges carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 30 years.
I'm sure some will try to turn this into a political story but I don't see it that way -- unless he prosecuted and convicted others for child sex crimes while committing them himself. If he did these disgusting things, I see a sick man who needs help.
Isn't this proof enough that draconian laws no matter how much the outrage is warranted will not prevent these crimes? Few people know and understand the laws and risks better than a AUSA and yet he was not deterred.
We need a way to get people at risk of offending to volunteer for treatment and supervision and our current laws do the opposite. Someone at risk of offending because of urges cannot even seek therapy nowadays because the law requires reporting him. Would Thomas have sought help? Maybe, maybe not. We'll never know.
Posted by: George | September 18, 2007 at 10:15 PM
Thomas is the defense attorney, right? Atchison (a US Justice Dept attorney) is the accused.
Posted by: Mayfly | September 26, 2007 at 08:16 PM