Sign up for 5280's weekly e-newsletters. Want the latest restaurant scoop? The latest happenings around town? Access to exclusive events and deals just for 5280 readers? The prosecution said Vincent Margera was drunk and fondled three young girls at a photo and autograph-signing event at a skate park. They said he grabbed their buttocks and breasts.
His defense attorney, Pam Mackey said “Margera was portraying his “goofy, outrageous and vulgar” Don Vito character. “That’s what got the laughs. It was entertainment.”
The charges: Sexual assault on a minor, carrying a penalty of from 2 – 6 years to life in prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
The jury came back with guilty verdicts as to two of the girls. Margera collapsed in court and was then hauled off to jail to await sentencing.
When the verdict was announced, Margera, 51, fell on the floor, saying: “Just kill me now. I can’t spend my (expletive) life in prison. I didn’t do anything.”
Our sexual assault laws are over the top. Groping should not carry a possible sentence of life in prison. The nation’s hysteria over child sex offenders needs to be racheted down a few notches.
No one supports child sex abuse. But the punishment should fit the crime. This one doesn’t.
Posted 10/31/2007 at 11:05 pm by Jeralyn Merritt
Crime :: Permalink :: Comments (6)
Your wrong Merritt, this guy deserves to be punished just like everyone else, even though this guy was a known D grade actor.
Although I do agree that groping should not be a life sentence and first timers should not be punished to the max, innocent girls were violated and Vincent Margera deserves some jail time.
Anon, that was my point. I didn’t say he didn’t deserve some punishment or that groping should not be illegal. I said groping should not carry a possible life sentence.
You really shouldn’t copy other blogs verbatim without citing the source. This is posted exactly word for word at TalkLeft. One of you is plagiarizing.
“Our sexual assault laws are over the top. Groping should not carry a possible sentence of life in prison. The nation’s hysteria over child sex offenders needs to be ratcheted down a few notches.
No one supports child sex abuse. But the punishment should fit the crime. This one doesn’t.”
http://www.talkleft.com
Discovery,
The post on Talk Left and the post here are by the same author.
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[...] Vito,” he’d just been convicted of groping two girls at an autograph signing event, collapsed in the courtroom and placed on a suicide watch at the Jefferson County [...]