re: Melanie Curtin, Denny Perkins mistress, found guilty of aggravated rape.

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However, they were open to a plea deal where she pleads guilty to avoid a trial and receives lesser sentence. She rejected that offer.

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I don't get saying no. The tape is damning and if she can swing a lesser charge, at least she doesn't die in prison.

(no message)

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Aggravated rape is usually set for cases where the assailant is holding a knife or gun to the victim and rapes them. That wasn’t the case here. But the problem is, there’s a provision that you can charge Agg rape if two or more people engage in the act of rape. That’s where they got her.

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Yup yup.

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§42. First degree rape

A. First degree rape is a rape committed upon a person sixty-five years of age or older or where the anal, oral, or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without lawful consent of the victim because it is committed under any one or more of the following circumstances:

(1) When the victim resists the act to the utmost, but whose resistance is overcome by force.

(2) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act by threats of great and immediate bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power of execution.

(3) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the offender is armed with a dangerous weapon.

(4) When the victim is under the age of thirteen years. Lack of knowledge of the victim's age shall not be a defense.

(5) When two or more offenders participated in the act.

(6) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the victim suffers from a physical or mental infirmity preventing such resistance.

B. For purposes of Paragraph (5), "participate" shall mean:

(1) Commit the act of rape.

(2) Physically assist in the commission of such act.

C. For purposes of this Section, the following words have the following meanings:

(1) "Physical infirmity" means a person who is a quadriplegic or paraplegic.

(2) "Mental infirmity" means a person with an intelligence quotient of seventy or lower.

D.(1) Whoever commits the crime of first degree rape shall be punished by life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

(2) However, if the victim was under the age of thirteen years, as provided by Paragraph (A)(4) of this Section:

(a) And if the district attorney seeks a capital verdict, the offender shall be punished by death or life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, in accordance with the determination of the jury. The provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 782 relative to cases in which punishment may be capital shall apply.

(b) And if the district attorney does not seek a capital verdict, the offender shall be punished by life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 782 relative to cases in which punishment is necessarily confinement at hard labor shall apply.

E. For all purposes, "aggravated rape" and "first degree rape" mean the offense defined by the provisions of this Section and any reference to the crime of aggravated rape is the same as a reference to the crime of first degree rape. Any act in violation of the provisions of this Section committed on or after August 1, 2015, shall be referred to as "first degree rape".

LINK
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I am blown away that they didn't cut a deal with her to testify against him

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I assume they can still call her to testify against Perkins.
What I can’t believe is that she didn’t testify in her own defense. If I’m facing life in prison for something I did that’s captured on video I’m throwing everything against the wall

someone said here that her lawyer is some hotshot...why did he rest without her testimony?

From what I recall reading she couldn’t make a plea desk because she recall any of the events that transpired? I don’t have a clue

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I thought he was still alive, because he was mentioned- I could be totally wrong.

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He is not.

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I get its the law, but in this instance the punishment does not fit the crime.

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Then call your state representative and ask them to sponsor legislation that reduces the sentence for First Degree Rape. It's strange, this board tells me all the time that we need harsher laws on the books for crimes of violence and sex offenses...

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Then call your state representative and ask them to sponsor legislation that reduces the sentence for First Degree Rape. It's strange, this board tells me all the time that we need harsher laws on the books for crimes of violence and sex offenses.

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Not arguing with anything you’ve said but I have a question. If this was just another case of some backwood Denham Springs shite, do you think she would have received the life sentence? The publicity of the Perkins other vile shite didn’t do Curtin any favors. The people want blood (rightfully so) and Curtin put herself right in the middle of it.

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Not arguing with anything you’ve said but I have a question. If this was just another case of some backwood Denham Springs shite, do you think she would have received the life sentence? The publicity of the Perkins other vile shite didn’t do Curtin any favors. The people want blood (rightfully so) and Curtin put herself right in the middle of it.

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While I know all of the attorneys involved, I haven't spoken to any of them about the case. I have no idea what, exactly, she was offered and refused. So I have no way of knowing if she was treated outside of the norm at all. Whether she was offered a great deal or a terrible deal, once she refused it, everything beyond that point was simply up to the jury. They would either believe she was a willing participant or not. They did, so they convicted her. Once they convicted her, there's only one possible sentence.

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This is a clear case of the District Attorney over prosecuting. Had there not been such public interest in the case she would have received a much lighter sentence if not probation.

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Do you know what she was offered as a resolution?