The Orange County Board of Supervisors is calling for the resignation of a judge over his ruling to reduce the sentence for a man who sodomized a 3-year-old girl, The Orange County Register reported.
The board voted 5-0 Tuesday to endorse a harsh rebuke of Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly's decision and "call for his immediate resignation," according to the newspaper.
Kevin Rojano-Nieto, 20, was convicted of sodomizing a 3-year-old relative. The minimum sentencing in this case was 25 years to life in prison.
The judge sentenced Rojano-Nieto to 10 years in prison on April 3, 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.
Kelly said a court-ordered examination concluded Rojano-Nieto wasn't a sexual predator and acted on impulse when he attacked a relative.
The ruling outraged victims' rights groups and sparked recall demands,
"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 earlier this month.
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Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas appealed the judge's decision last week, saying he believes the ruling was illegal.
"This is a horrendous crime and one deserving of the punishment outlined in the law," Rackauckas said.
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 board has no power to remove judges because Kelly is an elected official.
