Last week’s story about Charles Wayne Reynolds and his plea deal certainly garnered a lot of attention, and prompted a lot of discussion on our social media profiles. We certainly understand the frustrations and criticisms – especially considering the heinous nature of the crime he was originally charged with.
There was some criticism of the judge and Commonwealth attorney, however, that we feel is at least a little unfounded. While the statements noting that Judge Phillips is not required to accept a plea agreement are true, she also can’t compel a victim or the Commonwealth to press charges. The judge simply adjudicates the issues brought before them by the Commonwealth.
Likewise, the Commonwealth – while they are the ones who bring the charges and may continue to pursue them even if the victim doesn’t wish to do so – is at least partially reliant on the cooperation of the victim (or, in the case of a minor, their family) to effectively pursue those charges. Without the victim’s cooperation, their job is an uphill slog that is highly unlikely to result in prosecution.
They also only pursue mediation, of the sort that resulted in reduced charges in this case, with the consent of the victim or their family.
It’s an imperfect system; one that very few people are satisfied with. But the flaws in the system are not the fault of Judge Phillips or of the Commonwealth Attorney’s office.
We also feel that, despite what we can all agree is an extremely lenient sentence for a horrible and dehumanizing crime, Judge Phillips did take extra steps to mitigate the danger Charles Wayne Reynolds poses to the children of our community. In addition to ordering Reynolds to have no contact at all with the victim until after her eighteenth birthday – a period of more than ten years – she also ordered him to have no unsupervised contact with any minor.
A violation of these orders, or any other orders he may incur on the other charges he faces (Reynolds was also charged with wanton endangerment in an unrelated case, for brandishing a firearm), would result in his arrest and serving the full sentence for his crime.
True, that still wouldn’t be the amount of time he could have received on the original charge of sexual abuse of a minor under 12. It’s also true that despite having now made plea deals in two sexual abuse cases involving minors, Reynolds has not had to register as a sex offender and doesn’t have to undergo any sex offender counseling.
But, the community now at least knows what Reynolds has been accused of, and they know what he made a plea deal to avoid. It is now up to his neighbors, friends, family, and acquaintances to determine how they interact with him moving forward.
The reason victims agree to go along with mediation and a plea deal are complex, but often it’s done to spare victims the trauma of reliving their assault. Whatever their reasons for agreeing to these terms, we pray for healing and peace for the victim and their family. And we pray that no other children fall victim to these horrible crimes.
