http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/10883871.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/10883821.html

The Philly judge in the rape case is an embarrassment to our city, but give Philly its due - we just lost a trailblazing female judge and advocate for the rights of the downtrodden. See links above on the life of Judge Lisa Richette.

Those of us in Philly are raped daily by too many criminals, too few police, too many nasty Parking Authority people, aggressive drivers who run over you on the expressways, expressways that were designed in the '50s and haven't been updated, unscrupulous landlords raising rents because buying a house is so difficult today, outrageous food prices, having a State liquor store more reminiscent of a Soviet-style establishment, having to purchase a full case of beer at "beverage shops" rather than a six-pack at a convenience store/supermarket and wages that are a joke.

Tell the prostitute to get in line...

Can you steal a service that's illegal to begin with?

The argument is disgusting. Prostitutes can't be raped? Way to further discourage prostitutes from coming forward about rapes and sexual assaults. Some cops already dismiss attacks against prostitutes because there were no "real victims."

Some of the worst serial rapists/murderers "practice" on prostitutes because they're "disposable." And then they move onto the "good women."

The only analogy I can come up with is finding a pro boxer and punching him. It'd still be assault, even though they take punches for a living.

if you hold up an artist at gunpoint and force them to paint, it is still a crime.

Rape is a violent act, sex is not. When this municipal judge next starts thinking, he ought to think better of it.

Again, a contract for illegal services is void and unenforceable, thus not a contract at all. She could not have been the victim of theft of services, because the services contracted for are illegal. This leaves only the issue of consent. She consented to sex with the man who paid her; the others raped her.

Even under the judge's twisted logic, At the very least, since the "theft" was committed with a gun, it was an armed/aggravated robbery, and not merely a theft. It seems to me that refusing to pay after having sex with a prostitute would be theft of services, but coercing the sex by way of a gun is most undoubtedly sexual assault/rape.

There was a similar dust-up in the Seattle area recently on this same issue: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/325328_rapeappeal27.html

A man convicted of raping two women at gunpoint shouldn't have gotten a lighter prison sentence simply because the victims were apparently working as prostitutes, the state Court of Appeals ruled this week.

Calling the Seattle trial judge's reasoning "clearly erroneous," the court threw out Jeffrey McKee's 19-year prison term, clearing the way for the Kent man to be resentenced to up to 30 years behind bars . . .

Under state sentencing guidelines, McKee faced roughly 25 to 30 years in prison for two counts of first-degree rape with a firearm.

But in June 2005, Superior Court Judge Douglas McBroom found that was a "clearly excessive sentence given the illicit circumstances, or precursor offenses, leading to the rapes."

In court papers, he emphasized that his decision was not because of "the victims' status as prostitutes," and it did not mean the women initiated or willingly participated in the rapes.

But as he sentenced McKee, according to the appeals court ruling, McBroom said the sex acts were against the victims' will only because they didn't get paid, and prostitutes were "a far cry from the innocent rape victim" that lawmakers envisioned when deciding the severe penalties for the crime . . .

Is it possible the judge didn't believe the victim was raped at gunpoint ? The "theft of services" statement is so inappropriate that it borders on lunacy. Assuming the judge has any mental faculties at all, maybe she thought the victim lied about the gun and filed rape charges when she didn't get paid. Apparently the victim did turn another trick before reporting the rape.

i used to work in a town where crack whores would report rapes instead of non payment of services.

And, I actually spoke with a few of them, so I'm positive this is how it happened.

They'd be asked for sex, with the promise of payment after and then not get the drugs or money promised.

I spoke with several police officers, who actually spent a lot of manpower investigating these cases.

They weren't considered rape, because she did consent. She just consented under false pretenses.

It's always confused me about consent in cases dealing with prostitutes. The cops were confused too. They never could figure out if they should arrest the "rapists" nor what charge or if they should arrest the prostitute for admitting to prostitution.

I always told the cops and the prosecutors in town that the solution was to legalize prostitution. Nobody ever listened.

Bring her over, tell her you'll pay her $200/guy, she has sex with four guys, and then you kick her out without paying her. If the sex was consensual, and the payment was denied, it's not rape (just as someone who has sex with his fiancee, and then breaks off the engagement, isn't a rapist).

The municipal judge who ruled the case "theft" is Teresa Carr Deni, a person of gender.

So armed robbery of a philanthropist is simply an "alternative funding mechanism".

I agree to come over on Monday and paint my neighbor's house for, oh, $500. Monday comes, I don't show. My neighbor comes over to my house, marches me over to his place at gunpoint, and holds the gun on me until I finish the job. (Maybe he even bops me over the head when I start to slack off). Then he sends me home without my pay. I, of course, call the cops.

"Theft of services" might be one of the things my neighbor gets charged with, but it would be on the end of the list after such items as armed assault, battery, kidnapping and maybe a few others. I think even Judge Deni would go along with that. I'm sure that having sex with a gun at your head is a much different experience from having sex in exhange for money.

The good news is that Judge Deni (and let's keep her name out there) is up for a retention election on Tuesday. With any luck, she'll lose.