Life sentence for Stanley Gerald Champ

[Ken]

Why? Presumably because the defendant chose not to negotiate a plea bargain.

If you take a guilty plea, you are admitting guilt.
If you let it go to trail, one can say he was "found guilty" but never admitted the guilt himself.
Basically a game that is played. Understand?

Yes I understand.

But I am wondering if Champ is claiming innocence... or didn't like the wording of the charges brought against him... or somehow thought the jury would take his side... or????

Does his church think he is guilty or innocent?

I think there are only two possible pleas one can make: Guilty or not Guilty. It is a binary choice. The only way a case proceeds to trial is if the defendant pleads not-Guilty. Although in this case he was facing multiple charges so there would have been a separate plea required for each charge.

It takes two parties to come to a plea agreement. It isn't solely about whether the defendant is willing to bargain. The prosecution also has to be willing to plea bargain and sometimes for political reasons they just aren't. Perhaps in this case the prosecution felt they had a rock-solid case and were not particularly interested in negotiating a generous plea agreement. Sometimes prosecutors really just want to try a high profile case and make it into an example.

It might well have been the case that the prosecution didn't offer any sort incentives that were generous enough to entice Champ and his attorneys into accepting a plea agreement. And they felt they had nothing to lose by going to trial. Or perhaps he was just in denial about what he had done and just wasn't willing to accept a plea deal even if one was offered.

I have no idea what happened in this case. But whether a case proceeds to trial depends on BOTH parties not just one. And it might well have been the prosecution and not Champ that forced the case to trail.

As for what his church thinks? According to the news coverage they were there in support of Champ. But that doesn't necessarily mean they thought him innocent or guilty.

[TruthSeeker]

Does his church think he is guilty or innocent?

I have no direct knowledge concerning Champ's church's perspective. The following post found on the facebook of "A Better Way" reflects the views of at least one plain group:

Evidently, the recent Gray's Prairie child sexual abuse case, along with possibly other "plain" cases, has led to alarm among at least one major "plain group".
I have received credible information that there there has been discussion at a large denominational ordained leadership meeting about this being a "sign of the end times". They believe that in the end times, rebellious children will falsely report their parents and other adults for child sexual abuse, and that they "need to take a stand" against this.
They don't believe that "the stories" could be true, and so in their mind, the "lies" have led to harm being caused by the government to these "godly men". . .

[Ernie]

Evidently, the recent Gray's Prairie child sexual abuse case, along with possibly other "plain" cases, has led to alarm among at least one major "plain group".
I have received credible information that there there has been discussion at a large denominational ordained leadership meeting about this being a "sign of the end times". They believe that in the end times, rebellious children will falsely report their parents and other adults for child sexual abuse, and that they "need to take a stand" against this.
They don't believe that "the stories" could be true, and so in their mind, the "lies" have led to harm being caused by the government to these "godly men". . .

Wow.

[Joy]

Evidently, the recent Gray's Prairie child sexual abuse case, along with possibly other "plain" cases, has led to alarm among at least one major "plain group".
I have received credible information that there there has been discussion at a large denominational ordained leadership meeting about this being a "sign of the end times". They believe that in the end times, rebellious children will falsely report their parents and other adults for child sexual abuse, and that they "need to take a stand" against this.
They don't believe that "the stories" could be true, and so in their mind, the "lies" have led to harm being caused by the government to these "godly men". . .

Wow.

My exact thought.

[temporal1]

In the course of their efforts to attract viewers reporters do often jump to conclusions, misunderstand, sensationalize, and other things. Sometimes this is because they are rushing to get the information out by their publishing deadlines and they literally don’t have time to research properly. And not all stories are equally worth devoting much research to.

This doesn’t make reporters bad people necessarily unless you actually bring bad motivations into this mix which sometimes happens because human nature is what it is.

It just means we have to keep these things in mind when consuming the news.

Yes. Nothing new.
This was taught with local newspaper examples in 1950’s public school ELEMENTARY classses, 5-6th grades. Students were asked to bring in their parents’ papers for class review. Errors could be found in reporting, even in simple local reports, by young students.

Mistakes were found in obituaries!

i remember those classes because, at that age, newspapers were for adults!
(except for comic strips.) and Sunday funny pages. in color.

[temporal1]

I suspect one of the reasons his church is frequently mentioned is because the one victim names them in her statement. She met him through the church, and if I remember correctly, he also met other victims through church.

And when she told the church about it they accused her of lying.

Evidently, the recent Gray's Prairie child sexual abuse case, along with possibly other "plain" cases, has led to alarm among at least one major "plain group".
I have received credible information that there there has been discussion at a large denominational ordained leadership meeting about this being a "sign of the end times".

They believe that in the end times, rebellious children will falsely report their parents and other adults for child sexual abuse,
and that they "need to take a stand" against this.
They don't believe that "the stories" could be true, and so in their mind, the "lies" have led to harm being caused by the government to these "godly men". . .

Wow.

My exact thought.

SIN IS SUCH A LIAR.

These carnal predatory sins have gone on (i believe throughout history) no matter location, church, schools, clubs, neighborhoods, families, they follow the same very effective patterns, starting with: DENIAL and DISBELIEF.

It’s only in recent decades that some break in the power has come along. SINCE THE INTERNET, quite a lot of change is happenng.
That is, VICTIMS now have a way to read+learn about others, their voices are not so easily silenced by their abusers - who often have power over them. “It’s her word (his word) against mine, i’m more trusted and credible!”

i believe the 90’s Catholic priest abuse scandals opened it up (via the internet). All those decades of victims being denied, using the EXACT methods that had always worked!

So, regarding this specific quote, it’s not hard to imagine some guilty perpetrator abusing scriptures to make up calloused evil lies about children! Sin is such a liar.

Normal, healthy minds are vulnerable to lies. Esp when presented with “the unthinkable.” Evil knows this!
The Garden. The Garden. The Garden.

i hope “we” are not tempted to be smug about others’ terrible mistakes in judgment. “If not for the grace of God” .. ..
prayers to not be fooled.

This battle is not over. Sadly, evil has a long history of success when it comes to carnal predators.
Evil does not sleep.

No one should be fooled this is over because some have been caught. Evil twists then comes in another door.

Day by day, look at how laws designed to protect minors are being eroded, bit by bit.

It’s a historical battle. It’s not new. It’s not over.

[appleman2006]

So why did this case go to jury trial?

As I understand some states can have a jury trial just for the sentencing even when a person pleads guilty. That is what just happened in the Parkland shooting. A plea bargain was probably not even offered in a case like this.

[TruthSeeker]

https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/07/virgini ... ter-1970s/

Perhaps this post deserves the start of another thread? Feel free, anyone, to move the post as deemed the best suitable placement.

[steve-in-kville]

https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/07/virgini ... ter-1970s/

Perhaps this post deserves the start of another? Feel free, anyone, to move the post as deemed the best suitable placement.

"Alice brought the accusations to the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, but it declined to prosecute the case in 2014 because Alice claims that bishops in the Pilgrims Mennonite Conference told the investigator that she was a “troublemaker” and “needed to find peace.”

Gaslighting at its finest.

[Josh]

"Alice brought the accusations to the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, but it declined to prosecute the case in 2014 because Alice claims that bishops in the Pilgrims Mennonite Conference told the investigator that she was a “troublemaker” and “needed to find peace.”

Gaslighting at its finest.

Alice claims that, but police do not drop an investigation just because some church leader says negative things about an accuser or suspected victim. In any case, I keep hearing over that over from certain people that we just need to report things to the police and all will be OK - obviously, that is not the case.