Circuit Judge Gene Stephenson: Insert foot in mouth

[chadtm80]

Rape Victim Shocked At Judge's Comment

POSTED: 11:03 AM EST January 29, 2004
UPDATED: 12:08 PM EST January 29, 2004

SANFORD, Fla. -- Prosecutors in Seminole County said they might ask a veteran judge to be removed from a rape case because of comments the judge made about the victim.

Court records indicate Circuit Judge Gene Stephenson made the comment earlier this week while looking at a photograph of the victim. The record quotes the judge as saying, "Why would he want to rape her? She doesn't look like a day at the beach."

Stephenson said he doesn't remember making the comment, but it's in the record.

Suspect Brian Joseph Huffman is charged with beating and raping the woman on New Year's Eve of 2002. He faces life in prison if convicted.

The victim was a 57-year-old woman, who said the judge's comments are "appalling." She said she intends the file a complaint with the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which has the power to recommend that Stephenson be removed from the bench.

[Lindaloo]

He should not have said that!! She is a victim and a rapist is a rapist regardless of how the victim looks.

[GalvestonDuck]

So true. Rape is about control, not sex. He didn't care what she looked like.

[timNms]

He should be removed from the bench and made to do manual labor for the rest of his life! Poor woman. Nobody deserves to be raped. The judge had no right to say that about her. It's appears to me that the judge was already siding with the rapist.

[Stephanie]

Oh how lovely! The friggin' idiot!

[chadtm80]

He should be removed but unfortunatly thats not punishment enough.. He is like 70 years old.. So he will just be able to enjoy his golden years off on a golf course somewhere.. Jerk off

[GalvestonDuck]

He needs to be made to sit and talk with a roomful of rape victims and find out what they went through, both before, during, and after the crime. And he needs to look at a rape exam kit and see what all the victim has to be put through during the collection of evidence following the crime.

Whenever one of our nurses in the ER had to asssist the physician with one of those, she was committed to that box until she signed it over to forensics authorities. They wanted to be sure nothing happened to the evidence, nothing was lost, and nothing was tampered with so that the perpetrator could be prosecuted, and, above all, that the patient/victim did not have to go through any more than he or she already had.