The state always protects itself, and Enrique Pearce proves this with each successive/successful court appearance. A powerful man facing a list of child pornography charges found himself in the courtroom of “retired Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Rene Navarro, who is on temporary assignment in San Francisco.” In other words, they brought in a ringer. In exchange for Pearce’s guilty plea, Navarro offered six months of home detention, which would most likely be halved. Three months of home detention standing between a child predator and the chance to set up shop elsewhere and start all over again.
It wouldn’t be the Enrique Pearce case without another delay, though, this time to March 10, because the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department deemed Pearce “unsuitable” for its electronic-monitoring program. Pearce’s defense has until then to find an alternative monitoring program or…the lack of consequences will continue, I would guess. Regardless, they’re moving heaven and earth to ensure Pearce receives the faintest of sentences.
Enrique Pearce should not be tried locally where his political allies run most aspects of government. Other local child-pornography cases such as those of Bernie Ward and Duane Ackerman were tried federally, so why the VIP treatment for Pearce?
As for why the Pearce case didn’t land with the feds, where he would have faced mandatory prison sentencing guidelines? According to Steve Wagstaffe, district attorney in San Mateo County and president of the California District Attorneys Association, “The U.S. attorney and FBI won’t touch a case unless there are (several thousand) child porn images involved.”
The state always protects itself.
