O.C. judge fires back
M. Marc Kelly, who gave a child molester a lesser sentence, calls recall bid ‘misleading.’
An Orange County judge who is being threatened with recall for giving a child molester a lesser prison sentence contends that he is a respected jurist who is the victim of a “misleading” campaign.
Judge M. Marc Kelly’s response to the recall threat marks the first time he has addressed the controversy since he gave convicted molester Kevin Rojano-Nieto, 20, less than the state minimum prison sentence on April 3.
The 10-year sentence for sodomizing a 3-year-old girl unleashed a firestorm of anger from politicians and others, who vowed to recall the judge from office. The state minimum punishment for the offense is 25 years in prison.
But in a six-point defense filed Monday with the Orange County Registrar of Voters, Kelly fought back for the first time.
Kelly wrote that the $2.3 million that a recall election could cost taxpayers was wasteful and that his “tough on crime” reputation as a judge weighed in his favor. He urged voters to “keep politics out of our courtrooms.”
Kelly, who was reelected in 2012 and whose current term is to expire in 2019, did not allude to the case that spurred the recall effort.
In making his ruling, Kelly said that sentencing Rojano-Nieto to 25 years behind bars would have been “cruel and unusual.” The judge said Rojanto-Nieto, who was 19 at the time of the crime, seemed remorseful and did not fit the profile of a sexual predator.
But county supervisors and community activists said Kelly had overstepped his bounds as a judge and that the young victim needed to be protected. The Orange County district attorney’s office has appealed the sentence.
Notice of a group’s intent to begin the recall process was filed May 4 with the county registrar of voters, leaving Kelly with seven days to file a response.
In his statement, Kelly urged voters not to sign the petition for a recall election, calling it “misleading.” He said he has been a “respected judge” in his 15 years on the bench, sentencing defendants to life or the maximum in “the vast majority of sexual assault trials” and presiding over “serious cases” prosecuted by the district attorney’s office.
He described his integrity as “unassailable,” saying, “I’ve been married 29 years. We’ve raised two sons in Orange County. We are devoted members of our church.”
As some criminal defense attorneys have argued publicly in previous weeks, Kelly also categorized the petition as “an attack on judicial independence.”
“I took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not to appease politicians,” the judge wrote. “A judge who doesn’t follow the Constitution today won’t follow it tomorrow when your rights are at stake.”
Once the recall petition is finalized, the group will have 160 days to collect 90,829 valid signatures for it to qualify for the ballot.