A New Jersey man accused of sexually assaulting six women was reportedly acquitted by a judge earlier this year on time — angering the mother of one victim who called the light sentence “not even a slap on the wrist.”
Accusations against Eridson Rodriguez, 26, piled up quickly in September 2020, when two young women accused him of sexually assaulting them while they were drunk and incapacitated during a gathering at his home in Hamilton, New Jersey about a year earlier, NJ .com reported .
Authorities charged Rodriguez with four counts of felony sexual assault after a year-long investigation. Once they announced the case, four other women came forward and said Rodriguez had sexually assaulted them as well.
A judge sent him to jail ahead of his trial, and prosecutors brought a 20-count indictment that included two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a defenseless victim, according to the news outlet.
But in February, he accepted a plea deal to one count of aggravated felony sexual intercourse. That allows him to run on “time served” – meaning the 882 days he’s already spent in jail are enough.
He is still required to register on the state’s sex offender registry and will serve the rest of his life on parole — the result of one aggravated felony sexual intercourse charge to which he pleaded guilty, NJ.com said.
But that wasn’t enough for the mother of one of the alleged victims, who told the newspaper that she “can’t believe how little justice has been served.”
Eridson Rodriguez got off with a slap on the wrist after six women accused him of sexual assault – a judge acquitted him after he served 882 days in jail before his trial. Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office
“This has caused a lot of pain, and I still can’t believe how little justice was served for this young woman,” said the angry mother, who NJ.com is not identifying because it will effectively name her daughter.
“It makes me uncomfortable,” he said, adding that one of Rodriguez’s accusers saw a convicted sex offender in a bar between his guilty plea in February and his sentencing in June.
“It makes me feel like we haven’t evolved, that women don’t matter in the state of New Jersey.”
Rodriguez’s attorney, Robin Lord, told the newspaper that the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office muddled the case by asking others with similar allegations to come forward. When they did, he said, the charges didn’t hold up.
His client also reportedly wanted to reject the plea deal but reconsidered.
“He wanted to go to trial, but he also wanted out of jail, so he compromised,” Lord said.
Neither the prosecutor’s office nor the prosecutor handling the case would comment to NJ.com.
But the accuser’s mother told the website that she doesn’t blame the prosecutor, who did the “best” with what she had. However, he is concerned that Rodriguez is not listed in the internet registry, possibly because of the level of offender he is.
Prosecutors need more tools to attack such cases, he said.
“Women are important. Young girls are important,” he said. “They didn’t get enough justice.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
