Two judges’ handling of rape cases criticized

Two New Jersey judges have come under fire for their handling of rape cases, one for asking whether a 16-year-old Eagle Scout “from a good family” should face serious consequences over a video-recorded assault on an intoxicated teenager.

The other judge asked whether a 12-year-old girl’s loss of virginity constituted serious harm.

The comments, which follow other cases of perceived leniency toward sex offenders from privileged backgrounds, led victim advocates to question whether judges are sufficiently qualified and trained to handle sex assault cases in the #Metoo era.

Monmouth County Judge James Troiano said in his opinion that the Eagle Scout charged with assaulting a 16-year-old girl at a pajama party had good test scores and was on track to attend a top college.

According to an appeals court decision last month, the teenager sent friends a video of him having sexual intercourse with the girl, along with a text, saying: “(w)hen your first time having sex was rape.”

Troiano called the encounter different from “the traditional case of rape,” where “two or more males” attack someone at gunpoint. And he attributed the text to “a 16-year-old kid saying stupid crap to his friends.”

The judge wrote that the “young man comes from a good family who put him into an excellent school where he was doing extremely well.”

Troiano, a retired judge who serves part time, did not return calls seeking comment made to his home Wednesday.

In the other case, Middlesex County Judge Marcia Silva said the alleged sexual assault of a 12-yearold girl by a 16-year-old was “not an especially heinous or cruel offense.”

According to an appeals court ruling, the judge wrote that the victim said the 16-year-old pushed her, grabbed her hands, removed her clothing and penetrated her without consent, causing her to lose her virginity.

Silva did not return a message left with her office Wednesday.

In both cases, the judges ordered the boys tried in juvenile court, but the appeals courts sent the cases back for reconsideration.