Court Opinion

ID: 9795462
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:29:26.712098+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:30:03.043411
License: Public Domain

J. JONES, Justice,
specially concurring.
The Court has correctly analyzed the issues raised by the Defendant. Under existing law, the Defendant committed the offense of statutory rape and was properly convicted thereof by an apparently reluctant jury. I say the jury was apparently reluctant because, following the verdict and prior to sentencing, nine of the jurors wrote to the sentencing judge to express sympathy for the Defendant and to request leniency in his sentence. The text of one of those letters, signed by seven jurors, states:
Dear Judge Herndon:
We the undersigned jury members in the Alexander Joslin case, would like to make you aware of our concern in this particular matter.
Alex is scheduled to be sentenced August 15th @ 2:00pm in your courtroom and we are extremely concerned about the punishment that he may receive.
It is our understanding that Alex will be labeled as a sex offender and this label will be placed on his record and will follow him for the rest of his life. We do not believe that Alex is a sex offender or that he should be labeled as such. He was a teenager who was enticed into making a mistake by a young lady who should share equally in the consequences. We feel that he should not be punished for the rest of his life, while ..., the girl involved goes free.
We are now aware of how the law reads, how it defines statutory rape and the possible punishments that could be invoked. We feel that the law is antiquated and the *87letter of the law should not be applied in this case.
We realize that it is your duty and responsibility to set punishment and not ours, but we would appreciate your consideration of our opinion in this matter.
Sincerely, (signatures of seven jury members)
It seems fairly obvious that the jury found substantial evidence upon which to base the conviction, as it appears the jury did have qualms about fulfilling its responsibility.