The leader of the Democratic Western Warod Philadelphia, who gave up after conviction for sexual assault to a minor, will spend about a month in prison, not prosecutors, he ruled on Thursday.
Stephen Jones, the 80s, was sentenced to Philadelphia Common Pleas to three to four weeks in prison, about time to be processed for 20 years of arrest of the house, which he also received, at the hearing in which shocking details appeared, which had not previously reported about the case.
According to prosecutors, Jones was arrested for harassment of his granddaughter at home while watching a Disney movie.
Jones previously ran the 59th city branch and was once closely related to the NON -PROFIT of Philadelphia Alliance against drugs and violence, although he was not involved in a group for about a decade, he said.
In February, the jury sentenced Jones for four allegations, including an indecent assault on a person under 13 years of age, illegal contact with minors, minor corruption and indecent assault on a person under 13 years of age. The earlier period of last year ended, with one separate juror.
While the belief apparently torn off Jones’s family – during the sentence, the victim’s mother got up from the court gallery, shouting and cursing at Jones, when he stared at quietly – the wedge also entered the democratic main race for the District Prosecutor in Philadelphia.
Shortly after Jones’s resignation, the Pat Dugan candidate accused his opponent, the inclined regional prosecutor Larry Krasner, of consciously searching for Jones’s support in the ward – a claim of Krasner, who won Tuesday basic, violently denied.
Before Jones appeared in the courtroom of referee judge Tracy Brandeis-Roman, politics and muddy surrounding the case took the back place.
There, prosecutors were looking for a 16-year prison sentence for Jones, who would guarantee that the former leader of the unit spent the rest of his life behind bars.
“He took her innocence, took her bodily autonomy, took her privacy, took her confidence in others,” said assistant to the district prosecutor Kelsey Gimaro in relation to the victim.
Brandeis-Roman-during the functions of Jones’s actions and calling a victim who is a minor, “hero”-he did not listen to this request.
In Jones’s conviction, primarily to arrest and a year of suspension, unlike years of prison, according to the request, Brandeis-Roman told the court that she took into account the advanced age of Jones and his diagnosis of lung cancer in stage 4, as well as other health ailments.
“This tribunal is well aware of the damage that this kind of act causes victims,” ​​said Bondeis-Roman.
Hard emotions soon spilled in a rarely frequented courtroom; After hearing the judgment, the victim’s mother – whose survey does not identify to protect the identity of the victim – broke out. Later, she was allowed to get closer to the bench.
“This man destroyed my daughter’s life,” the woman shouted towards Jones. “My child came out.”
The woman told the court that her daughter had to change schools and experienced suicide thoughts after Jones molested her. The girl was not present in the courtroom.
“You are a ribbon – you are behind the position of the leader’s leader,” the woman was still shouting at Jones. “You are sick, you are a freak.”
Jones’s private defense lawyer, Vincent M. Lorusso, previously presented brief remarks to Brandeis-Roman about his client, citing the “Flood of List” written by community members, supporting Jones and his “long status in the community.”
Gimaro began to destroy this concept during her comments.
“There are two Stephen Jones,” said the prosecutor. “The community leader, a man who transfers money, volunteers with children” and Jones, who “sexually attracts children.”
Gimaro threw Jones as “Power Hungry” and “Liar”, who did not take “any responsibility” for his actions, presenting conflicting statements regarding the assault to prosecutors and claiming that it was the victim who came to him.
Meanwhile, Gimaro described that Jones is deceitful to his political position despite his belief.
With Jones, the 59th Branch was the host of the meeting and the green for political candidates, in which Krasner participated, the accusation of Dugan’s accusation.
Krasner said that he was not aware of Jones’s belief at that time and “he did not establish any relationship between this and none of the 30,000 new cases we have every year.”
Brandeis-Roman told the court that when she began reading severance pay for the sentence, she did not know that Jones was the leader of the branch.
“I don’t give him a pass in any way, shape or form” for assault, she said, justifying the ruling. “But there is a 80-year-old man ahead of me who takes 14 drugs who undergo chemotherapy and who has no previous record.”
The victim’s mother was more blunt in her opinion of Jones.
“I hope the devil will come to you,” she said.
