Tony Simmons a
His victims include a 13 year old in a holding area, a 15 year old who was sodomized behind a locker (filled with condoms and cookies) and Ashley pictured above. She was 15 and on her way into court escorted by Simmons, when he took her into the basement and raped her. "I knew I was just raped. I knew it wasn't supposed to happen. I didn't think anybody would believe me." Meanwhile she served a year for filing a false report by telling the police she did not know the person who had attacked her on the way to school.
Unfortunately for Ashley she was right. Despite the charges carrying a max sentence of eight years, Simmons managed to get away with only probation.
It's believed that he lucked out due to a problematic system and stereotypical judgment. A jury might not have believed a black teen prisoner accusing a white court officer of rape with no witnesses and no physical evidence.
There is strangely little reporting on this topic besides The Daily News, though the district attorney has called the verdict, "an egregious breach of the public's trust. While a judge has the responsibility to decide what he or she thinks is a fair sentence, in our view today's sentence of probation is outrageously lenient given the admitted conduct."
Also of that opinion is New York City's branch of NOW, which has started a petition (see link below) on the victims' behalf, asking, "If we cannot deliver justice for these three teen victims who were assaulted on the premises of the Manhattan Family Court building by an employee assigned to protect them, how can we expect justice for any women.
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