A public push has started to have an Orange County judge, who gave a convicted child rapist a lighter sentence than mandated by state guidelines, removed from the bench.
The controversy centers around the 10 year sentence given to Kevin Jona Rojano-Nieto, 20, convicted of sodomizing a 3-year-old relative. The minimum sentencing in this case was 25 years to life in prison. Judge M. Marc Kelly decided to ignore those guidelines citing the mandated state sentencing as “cruel and unusual punishment” for a man who came from a broken family and had been abused himself as a child.
“How dare a sworn member of the judiciary tell the family and through their family a 3-year-old child that the sodomy was not brutal,” Supervisor Todd Spitzer said.
On the day of the attack, Rojano-Nieto was playing video games in the garage of his Santa Ana home when his young relative walked in. Prosecutors said he locked the door so the toddler couldn’t leave when he sexually assaulted her.
In Kelly’s nine-page analysis, he compared sentencing for similar and other offenses, looked into details of the case and took into account a court-ordered psychological examination and a sentencing report that concluded Rojano-Nieto wasn't a true pedophile or sexual predator and wouldn't pose a danger to society.
The victim’s father started an online petition to have the judge removed from office. More than 40,000 people signed the petition as of Thursday. He also started a Facebook page that garnered more than 13,000 likes in a matter of days to have the judge recalled.
“It has rocked the very foundation of my family to the core,” the victim’s mother said during the victim impact statement. She referred to Rojano-Nieto as Kevin and said he “allowed God into his heart” and she hoped that “will stop the ripple effects of this tragedy.”
Three Orange County supervisors along with public supporters of the judge’s recall held a news conference on calling his resignation.
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“What the family wants in this type of situation unfortunately has to take a back seat to what is good for the greater good of the public,” Bryan Scott said, a recall organizer.
