One of two women accused of scrapping with an anti-abortion protester in front of Flagstaff City Hall has decided to accept six months of unsupervised probation to make the charges go away.
Denise Redsteer, 48, accepted a “deferred prosecution” Friday in Flagstaff Municipal Court, said City Prosecutor Lisa Stankovich. Deferred prosecution does not admit guilt, and if Redsteer successfully completes the terms of her probation, the charges against her will be dismissed.
Stankovich said that Redsteer has also agreed to pay a $150 prosecution fee and not commit any criminal offenses during the probationary period.
Flagstaff attorney, Mik Jordhal, who is representing both women, is deferring comment on the matter until the resolution of the case of the second defendant, Laura Chapman, 48.
Her case is still pending in court, so Jordhal said any comment of his would be premature.
As for why the city prosecutor chose to offer deferred prosecution, Stankovich said she could not comment on specific cases.
She did say, though, in general, city prosecutors look at several factors when making a decision about a case. Among them are likelihood of proving a case, the victim’s input, any criminal history a defendant may have and various references by people in the community.
The case began when the two women approached anti-abortion advocate Johnny Wallace, 69. Wallace had been standing in front of City Hall with a billboard sign espousing his views on abortion.
Witnesses told police that the two women approached Wallace and began to try to take and destroy the sign he was holding. Wallace had to physically restrain the women. Minor injuries were reported.
Police arrested and charged both women with misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace and criminal damage.[reference]
And of course no article would be complete without a bit of relativism.
Wallace is himself no stranger to deferred prosecution. He and two other pro-life advocates illegally picketed in front of the home of a Planned Parenthood employee back in January 2008.
When pro-life protester James Pouillon was murdered the press alson concentrated on his being arrested previously for protesting – a case he fought and eventually won. I guess civil disobedience is not what is use to be in the civil rights fight.
7 comments
So, are you offended and hurt by the inequality of the judicial system?
Not many priests were ever prosecuted for their crimes of sexual molestation. Only a very few have ever gone to prison. All the toothless retards from trailer parks that do the same thing, end up doing hard time, often for the rest of their lives. Which group should have been better able to control their deviant urges and therefore bear a greater degree of guilt worthy of harsh punishment?
So an injustice in one case is a cause to ignore injustice to another?
Go back to your bridge.
Actually Reddog, the conviction rates of sexual offenders of all sorts is low, regardless of their background. That doesn’t make it right. I agree that the Church should have done much more to protect their flocks from the wolves in their midst. That being said, this doesn’t mean it suddenly becomes okay to abuse anyone who engages in something the Catholic Church happens to teach.
Your logic is that we shouldn’t remark ob a 69 year old pro-lifer, who may or may not be Catholic, because priest abused children. IN other words only the morally clean can comment on the evil of others. If that is the case, then no person, including you, has any right to castigate anyone else (even us nasty wicked Catholic priest…because you just know we’re all predators who just haven’t been caught yet), because no one is perfect.
Tu quoque Red Rover. Try again.
Actually, reddog, the prosecution rate for known priest abusers who are not dead or whose crimes are past the statute of limitation is very high. Compare it to the prosecution rate for known abusers in the population in general, and you will see an inequality in the justice system. But you knew this. You just like your stick, however ineffective it really is.
As an admitted sociopath, why do you bother with this particular obsession? You have no basis for a general contempt for hypocrisy, even if you were not aware that there is none here. Were you abused by a priest? You know, having been abused is the only substantial (and it’s very statistically significant) predictor of abuse. Perhaps your neighbors should be warned about perverted Davey Wickert trolling around the schools and parks and beaches of Huntington Beach on his scooter. It is kind of strange for a man your age to live alone.. Thank, uh, goodness for Neighborhood Watch.
In NY, aged pro-lifers have been jailed for praying the Rosary in front of murder mills.
In another jurisdiction, assault an old man with a pro-life sign and you get nothing.
reddog, you ought to run for a seat in congress. Your hometown could be one of the approximately 535 villages missing their idiots.
You got me, I’m clicking thru.