Hypocrisy: South Carolina lawmaker who advocated for protecting kids gets 17 years for child pornography
A former Republican lawmaker in South Carolina has been sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison for sending videos of children being sexually abused on social media. He was also found with video of himself abusing underage women overseas, but the women could not be located.
RJ May resigned last year before pleading guilty to distributing the child sex abuse videos. He admitted sharing hundreds of videos over Kik. He apologized at his sentencing Wednesday. He had sought a shorter sentence, citing addiction to pornography and screens.
The irony is that May was a vocal proponent of “protecting children”. In January of 2024 May was quoted as saying to the South Carolina House “We as legislators have an obligation to ensure that our children have no harm done to them.” What did we say about those who scream the loudest?
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See also how the registry failed to protect a child:
https://www.wesh.com/article/former-sanford-police-officer-arrested-misconduct-student/70001939
Another in a position of trust abusing it…
This guy got a light sentence. The US Sentencing Commission Guidelines recommended more than 20 years for production and distribution offenses. I’m not saying he should or should not have gotten the sentence he received but the guidelines, albeit empirically flawed maybe the judge knew this) call for a much harsher sentence.
I don’t think we can assume a light sentence from the article. The federal sentencing guidelines have a rather Byzantine algorithm for determining a sentence. We will never know what his guideline sentence was because the pre-sentence reports aren’t publicly available. He was not convicted of production, but only of distribution. As an elected legislator, he likely had no criminal history which would make him a Tier I offender. Seventeen years means 204 months which puts him in the middle of the range for an offense level 36. It is not uncommon for CP offenders to end up with a level of 30 or above. The 204 months was likely within the guideline range, because a judge must justify a departure either up or down.
Pointing finger at others and forgetting that three are pointed right back at them!
I hate to say it, but now he’ll get a firsthand opportunity to learn what about a million of us already know…the registry is indeed punishment. The question is, will he just disappear into oblivion, or will he become a new advocate for abolishing the bloviated, ineffective, resource-consuming registry?
For people like that, I would say it’s a dish best served cold. The whole laws for thee, and not for me schtick, is getting old in the world.
All these bandwagon “anti pedophile” people are hiding things and denying reality on many levels. Society is just ridiculous.
I’ve started thinking the same thing myself. Why do they work so hard to force extreme punishment for even people with minimal offenses? The answer is ….to be able to beat their chests and proclaim they are the ones that deserve your vote and your money of course!