Justice Overruled

I often hear people in Topeka complaining about crime. Of course, the Topeka Police Department and the Shawnee County Sheriff’s office receive the brunt of the blame for our high crime rate. However, events in the last several weeks have led me to believe that at least a partial cause of our high crime rate is tendency our local judges have to release convicted criminals on “supervised probation” rather than placing them in prison where they belong.

Take the case of Mark Bernard Cliver, the 50-year-old man who should have been in prison for 4 years, but was awarded probation by Shawnee County District Judge Jan Leuenberger. 10 months after he should have been imprisoned, he stabbed to death his 81-year-old neighbor Frank Craig, and after a high-speed chase, committed suicide by slamming the truck he stole into a bridge support tower. The blood of Frank Craig is on the hands of Judge Leuenberger for allowing this four time convicted felon to remain on the streets.

We then have the case of a 14-year old girl, who I had the pleasure of meeting the other day. She was attending a sleepover at a friend’s house, when Orlando Paul Cisneros, the former lover of her friend’s mother utilized a combination of alcohol and marijuana to get control over her. This 38-year old animal set his trap, coerced her compliance through fear, and abused her sexually for about a month before he was caught.

This self-confessed pedophile should have been awarded 13 years in prison for the 17 counts of rape and sodomy that he inflicted on this young woman. Instead, Shawnee County District Judge Matthew Dowd gave him probation. This beast is now free to stalk yet more prey among the young women of Topeka.

Judge Dowd based the probation on four factors:
- The slimeball was depressed,
- The slimeball had a good work history,
- The slimeball had a supportive family; and
- The slimeball had not caused “permanent” or “long-lasting” harm to the victim.

However, in an interview with the victim’s father, it turns out that:
- Depression was never discussed during the actual trial while the jury was present. The depression did not “appear” until the 17 guilty verdicts were rendered and the sentencing phase of the trial was started. Thus, the prosecution was never provided a chance to dispute the “sudden” depression that had apparently been affecting the rapist for a long time.
- Judge Dowd himself determined that there was no permanent or long-lasting harm to the victim. According to the victim, no mental health professionals ever testified regarding the harm that was caused to her, either short-term or long-term. This brings into question the basis of Judge Dowd’s comments that there was no long-term harm.

Since these attacks occurred, the victim has been attending regular sessions with a private counselor. As there was sufficient evidence to obtain the conviction, it was decided that the counselor it would be better to protect the privacy of the young victim, and thus, the counselor was never called to testify. But would the knowledge of the harm this animal had caused have stopped Dowd’s decision? Based upon his own prior decisions, it is doubtful.

What has become apparent is that Judge Dowd has clearly decided that an adult can rape and/or sodomize a child, and walk out of his courtroom free based on the flimsiest of excuses. Justice does not exist for the victims in his courtroom, only more anguish.

Both Justice Leuenberger and Justice Dowd have proven they cannot be trusted to dispense justice. Justice Leuenberger has the death of an innocent man on his hands, and I certainly hope that Justice Dowd has not freed a pedophile that goes a bit too far with his next victim.

In closing, I would like to send a personal message to the young woman who experienced this. When I visited, you impressed me with your intelligence, your demeanor, and your toughness. I hope that we can all take to heart your advice to all parents who may unfortunately end up in these circumstances, and “Don’t blame the kids.” I believe that you and the rest of your family will all come out stronger from this experience, and I sincerely wish you the best.

You can email Alan at alan@alanfernald.com twenty-four hours a day.