Convicted child molester Lindsey Whiteside will remain on house arrest. Special Circuit Judge Jeff Weill denied the District Attorney's motion for resentencing but threw a curveball into his ruling.
1) An intensive supervision program may be used as an alternative to incarceration for offenders who are not convicted of a crime of violencepursuant to Section 97-3-2 as selected by the court and for juvenile offenders as provided in Section 43-21-605. Any offender convicted of a sex crime shall not be placed in the program.
Rule 25.4 Clerical and Technical Errors. After giving notice to the State and the defendant, the court may correct a clerical error in a judgment or order, correct an error in the record arising from oversight or omission, or correct a sentence that resulted from arithmetical, technical, or other clear error. Emphasis added by the Court.
it is clear that the Supreme Court disfavors revisiting sentencing decisions once made, particularly when the State is seeking a sentence harsher than the sentence meted out by the original sentencing judge.
The Supreme Court held the right to challenge the sentence belonged to the defendant, not the prosecution. Judge Weill decreed the law gave him no remedy to fix the illegal sentence. The opinion got rather squirrely as the Court ruled:
The initial Sentencing Order is awkwardly written in that it consists of an (inapplicable) form order to be used when a Defendant is sentenced to the MDOC’s ISP program, a program which a Defendant convicted of sexual battery may not participate in.
Judge Weill hammered the District Attorney, observing he raised no "contemporaneous objection" when Judge Howorth imposed the sentence. The opinion gets a little squirrely:
Judge Howorth sentenced the Defendant to a ten-year sentence with seven years suspended, with actual incarceration to be served on monitored house-arrest for three years, then post-release supervision (PRS) for five years, followed by two years of non-reporting post-release supervision. That sentence is permitted within the sentencing parameters provided by the sexual battery statute and within Judge Howorth’s discretion, which the State and the Defendant deferred to when they agreed to an open plea. The error within that order was in placing Whiteside in the MDOC’s ISP program, not in sentencing her to incarceration via house arrest.
Consistent with that observation, the Court herein amends the sentencing order to reflect and implement Judge Howorth’s sentence rendered in open court, bound by the Supreme Court’s holding in Sweat v. State, supra, which does not allow sentencing the Defendant to a harsher sentence “…when the error benefits the defendant in the form of a more lenient sentence…”
Judge Weill removed Whiteside from the jurisdiction of MDOC and ordered her to serve her house arrest under the supervision of the Court. The Court concluded:
While this Court can correct the terms of incarceration by entering a corrected sentencing order pursuant to MRCrP Rule 25.4, it is without authority to resentence the Defendant to serve a harsher one, as the Supreme Court has made clear.
While Whiteside escaped prison in Circuit Court, she may still go to prison.
A federal grand jury indicted Whiteside for transporting a minor across state lines for sexual purposes in October. Although a U.S. Magistrate granted bond to Whiteside, U.S. District Judge Debra Brown revoked it in November. Whiteside currently resides at the Lafayette County jail.
If convicted, she will face a minimum sentence of ten years in federal prison. Earlier post on federal prosecution and bond revocation.
Judge Brown scheduled Whiteside's trial for April 20 in the Greenville federal courtroom.
42 comments:
What no one seems to be asking is did Howorth knowingly exploit loopholes in order to benefit Whiteside?
The Three Stooges become lawyers and jurists.
She needs to repent and ask for forgiveness. Also, the full weight of the law should land squarely on her shoulder.
Hoping the Federal charges stick and are harshly sentenced, preferably consecutively with her state sentence rather than concurrently.
Wow, a court blessing not in Hinds County. 😂
Why does the system protect pedophiles?
Protecting their own 1:59 .
I feel like that's the question to ask the nine teachers and the Desoto County School Board member Michele Henley who all wrote presentencing letter of support for their child rapist.
Seems like the judges are often almost as much of a problem as the criminals.
I just wonder how many other children have been the victims of her attentions. It is well known that child abusers/predators do not commit their actions on an isolated basis. They usually commit these acts as serial offenders.
So the local DA messed up? Makes his actions in the aftermath all more telling…
@3:20 - That’s my read on it.
Seems like Judge Wiell maybe goes to church with the Defendant with such a favorable ruling. District Attorney Matthew Barton is a hero for exposing the corruption that's clearly rife in DeSoto County.
This is nothing new. Historically, The Mississippi Supreme Court has always appointed special masters, who rig the system, in favor of a well paid lawyer.
DA Barton is a dumbass that dropped the ball. He only cares about preening before the camera. Little man's disease victim
so what about that dude that got 80 years for cp of a 14 year told that he had sex with? can he get house arrest too?
Yall just leave this woman alone. She’s suffered enough. This is a witch hunt.
This post is a little squirrely.
weill is a moron.
he proved that time and again during his tenure as a circuit judge in hinds county.
this ruling is clearly erroneous and the state can , in fact, appeal the sentence.
lets hope the MS supreme court corrects this.
this woman will get her real comeuppance in federal court.
back about 15 years ago a well know infectious disease medical doctor from jackson got 25 years day for day for transporting a minor across state lines to shreveport Louisiana for pourposes of sex .
also state time cannot preempt federal time.
the entirety of a federal sentence must be served first, before any state time kicks in.
thats the supremacy clause of the U S constitution kicking in.
Defending pedophiles? Dude....
Yes, Judge Weill is an idiot with an exaggerated sense of his own importance. Add him to the list of incompetent jurists in MS.
Off with her head. Draw and quarter her! Burn her at the stake. She is a professional criminal robbing and killing. No wait, she had sex. who died?
Weill’s hands are tied by the Supreme Court decision and the lack of statutory authority. However, the Legislature can clarify the statute with one simple bill. Someone will probably do that soon.
The federal charges are pretty much a chip shot for the federal court and thus, she will get hers this summer in the form of a significant sentence served day-for-day.
She is indeed a witch. She preys upon children. From a position of power, faith and bullshit. But she needs a break don't you understand?
Surprised all the horn dogs haven't offered to help her.
People should really learn how the legal system works. Everyone is under the impression that criminal behavior automatically means jail time. Once you realize that the legal system doesn’t see women sex offenders as damaging, you will understand why women get lighter sentences.
65,000 text messages?
this bitch is beyond obsession.
Over a few years that's several hundred a day.
Whack AF.
A lot of ignorance thrown around by KF and commentators.
If Lindsey had not been in a position of trust then there would be no crime.
16 is the age of sexual consent in Mississippi. The crime is only because of the position of authority or trust. If the two had just met on Tinder then there would be no crime.
She’s not a child molester because 16 is not a child.
You diminish the crime and actual victims of child molestation (the law specifies when the victim is under age 14) by lying and using misleading emotional clickbait titles.
So, in your opinion, a 50 yr hooking with your 16 daughter is ok? As you said, no crime has been committed. Would you invite him over for dinner and support the relationship?
11:45, Mississippi law is a bit more nuanced than that. If you're interested:
Statutory rape (under 16) is found at Section 97-3-65.
She was actually convicted of sexual battery (under 18 if the other person is in a position of trust), which is 97-3-95(2).
But "minor" is defined as anyone under the age of 21, except for the purpose of contracts it's 18. That's Section 1-3-27.
And in Mississippi, anyone under the age of 21 is an "infant." Section 1-3-21.
So it's incorrect to say "16 is not a child."
If Lindsey had not been in a position of trust then there would be no crime.
You could say the same thing about every medical or psychiatric professional that's convicted for having sex with their patient.
The age of consent has nothing to do with whether the victim can consent to having sex with their rapist. They can't consent because their rapist is in a position of power and authority.
Lindsey Whiteside was in a position of trust.
That's why the crime is separately described in the statutes.
You must be from DeSoto County with that depth of moral ambiguity. Jees you're a sick puppy and don't even know it.
'It would have been legal if I wasn't a educator and a coach. Or if I wasn't a youth minister.' Or both.
I hope she and her attorney use this type of defense with the feds.
When it's an element of the charged crime, and if you admitted to it in a guilty plea, those "it would have been different ifs" don't apply anymore.
Get her right along to a conviction and into her new cell asap.
Kingfish says house arrest. The Memphis TV stations say she's in jail in Marshall County.
I did. Read the post, dummy.
You can't have it both ways, Kingfish. If she's jailed in Fitch-County, she can't be under ankled-arrest.
Actually, dummy, one is state court and one is federal. She is on ISP under the state sentencing order. However, the feds took custody of her as Judge Brown revoked her probation so she is in the Lafayette County jail as they have an arrangement with the feds just as Madison does. If she gets out of jail, she will go to house arrest/ISP under the state sentence until she is convicted and sentenced to prison in federal court.
Y'all know this ain't the only female rapist and pedophile that Farese has gotten off with no time?
Oh Mighty Kingfish: Then, in the interest of accurate journalism, change the damned headline and introductory sentence. If you're not interested in accuracy, don't.
It matters NOT what the original sentence was, she is NOT on house arrest. She is fuckin' in jail, DUMMY.
🤓
Her state sentence is house arrest/ISP. The federal bond revocation order simply supersedes it and has priority. This is not hard.
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