O’Reilly, Rivera take Bartheld, Miller to task on national TV

Bill O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera again condemned local District 18 Judge Thomas Bartheld on a national television program Friday night for his sentence of a child rapist. During the O’Reilly Factor segment aired on Fox News, they expanded their criticism to include District Attorney Jim Bob Miller, and vowed to take their complaints to Oklahoma’s governor.

Rivera visited McAlester Thursday to speak with the mother of a young girl whose rapist was convicted in a plea bargain with Miller’s office and sentenced by Bartheld to a year in prison, with another 19 years suspended. Rivera’s interview of the woman was aired during the Friday segment.

www.mcalesternews.com...

A one year sentence with 19 suspended for the rape of a 5 year old child?!?! True justice is fast becoming a thing of the past. The judge in this case should step down in shame for making a mockery of the judicial system.

First, he actually accepts a no contest plea, which basically amounts to the defendant shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Well, the prosecutor's office says I did this and they have evidence so....here I am." No acceptance of guilt whatsoever.

The judge should not have accepted a plea of no contest on a case like this. The district attorney's office shouldn't have accepted it either.

To add insult to injury, he only gives the guy 1 year!!!! Sorry for the redundancy but, 1 year!! There was talk on the radio this morning that he only gave a year because the defendant has terminal cancer. This is a good enough excuse to give the vile filth one year for a crime that should have guaranteed him a life sentence? Not good enough. What if he's still kicking after a year? The only bright side to this is that the prisoner's will get wind of him and take care of the problem.

This is a rhetorical question but, how, how, how do people like this judge manage to garner positions of power? I hope that now this story has seen the light of day, the public will help to make fast work of his removal from the bench. I'm not holding my breath that Gov. Brad Henry will be any help.

The following link is information on how to contact Gov. Henry and AG Drew Edmondson to voice your opinion on this matter.

www.billoreilly.com...

Voice your disgust and maybe, just maybe, we can start the process of ousting all of the incompetent policitians, beginning with this judge.