Jessica Lunsford's Dad Blasts Mass. Pol's Vow to 'Rip Apart' Child Rape Victims at Trial
Massachusetts Rep. James Fagan speaks last month.The father of a Florida girl abducted and buried alive in a trash bag by a sex offender has blasted a Massachusetts politician who said he'd have to torment young victims on the witness stand if mandatory sentences for offenders passed the state Legislature.
Mark Lunsford, whose 9-year-old daughter died in 2005, told the Boston Herald that Rep. James Fagan, a defense attorney, should take the rights of victimized children seriously.
“Why doesn’t he figure out a way to defend that child and put these kind of people away instead of trying to figure ways for defense attorneys to get around Jessica’s Law?” Lunsford told the paper. “These are very serious crimes that nobody wants to take serious. What about the rights of these children?”
Fagan came under fire last month for remarks he made about young victims during a debate in the Massachusetts House on the state adopting Jessica's Law, which would require a mandatory 20-year sentence for the rape of a child under age 12.
"I'm gonna rip them apart," Fagan said of young victims. "I'm going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined, that when they’re 8 years old, they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.”
Fagan said as a defense attorney it would be his duty to do that in order to keep his clients free from a "mandatory sentence of those draconian proportions." Those comments drew the ire of local activists.
Lunsford will be in Massachusetts Wednesday to push the state Senate to include mandatory prison time in the state's final version of Jessica's Law, according to the Herald.
Click here for more from the Boston Herald.
Click here to see Fagan's remarks at MyFOXBoston.com.
Mark Lunsford, whose 9-year-old daughter died in 2005, told the Boston Herald that Rep. James Fagan, a defense attorney, should take the rights of victimized children seriously.
“Why doesn’t he figure out a way to defend that child and put these kind of people away instead of trying to figure ways for defense attorneys to get around Jessica’s Law?” Lunsford told the paper. “These are very serious crimes that nobody wants to take serious. What about the rights of these children?”
Fagan came under fire last month for remarks he made about young victims during a debate in the Massachusetts House on the state adopting Jessica's Law, which would require a mandatory 20-year sentence for the rape of a child under age 12.
"I'm gonna rip them apart," Fagan said of young victims. "I'm going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined, that when they’re 8 years old, they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.”
Fagan said as a defense attorney it would be his duty to do that in order to keep his clients free from a "mandatory sentence of those draconian proportions." Those comments drew the ire of local activists.
Lunsford will be in Massachusetts Wednesday to push the state Senate to include mandatory prison time in the state's final version of Jessica's Law, according to the Herald.
Click here for more from the Boston Herald.
Click here to see Fagan's remarks at MyFOXBoston.com.
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