While I went into quite a bit of detail on the Mayor story, there was just so much more that’s worth exploring, including the obvious: did the punishment fit the crime?
Let’s start with the True version of the story, from the 14 June 2026 issue:
Understatement
“What an embarrassment I’ve been to this city,” said former Mayor Misty Roberts of DeRidder, La., which was quite a turn from her previous assertion: “I was victimized.” Roberts, now 44, was convicted of two felonies after having sex with a drunk 16-year-old boy at a child’s birthday party at her own home: carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and indecent behavior with a juvenile, with a potential 17-year sentence. Roberts was mayor at the time, but resigned when investigators filed for an arrest warrant. Some of the kids, including her own, saw the act in progress. The victim’s mother says her son is still suffering from the event. “This predator was not hiding in a van carrying candy or a puppy,” she told the court. “This danger came from a predator with hair extensions, high heels, Botox, and fake eyelashes.” She then turned to Roberts to say, “Stay the hell away from my family.” Prosecutors asked for the full 17-year sentence, but Judge Kent Savoie sentenced her to two 5-year prison terms, with all suspended except for 90 days, plus a $5,000 fine, 5 years of probation, regular drug screening, psychological therapy, and registration as a sex offender. (RC/KPLC Lake Charles, KALB Alexandria) …Notice: predators may not match the descriptions in the brochure.
The slug (“Understatement”), of course, refers to the opening quote.
So Many Questions
How was the kid drunk in the first place? Because Roberts provided alcohol, and even asked her son what kind of alcoholic beverages he and his friends wanted at the party. That might indicate that it was her son’s birthday, but that’s unclear. He was also in the 16-17 range (he called the rape victim his best friend), but it also feels like it could have been his sister’s big day; she’s 3 years younger, so around 13 at the time. While I did find a photo of Roberts with her kids, I declined to download it, let alone post it here.
“I must adjust my focus and priorities,” Roberts says in her resignation to the City Council. No kidding. (City of DeRidder)
Where’s her husband? Duncan Clanton obtained a divorce from her in mid-2023 (well before the incident), yet Roberts actually confessed to him what she had done — but “I need you to deny it, please.” He took the kids out of town a week later to get them away from the chatter about what their mother had done.
Isn’t calling this “rape” overblown? Not at all: it’s exactly what it would be called if a man in his 40s plied a teen girl with alcohol, and then led her staggering to a back room for coerced sex. “Carnal knowledge of a juvenile” is Louisiana legalese for statutory rape.
Relevant Dates: The party was on July 20, 2024. Roberts resigned as Mayor on July 27, a few days before her arrest. She was ready for the booking: she appears to have already hired a lawyer as she was released on $75,000 bail just 77 minutes later. The first prosecution ended in a mistrial when two judges were removed for having links to Roberts’ ex-husband. The definitive trial began in late February 2026; the jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding her guilty on March 3, and she was scheduled for sentencing in April. After a delay, she was sentenced on June 9, 2026, which triggered the story in True.
Location: DeRidder has a population of just under 10,000, and is about 20 miles from the Texas border.
OK, let’s dig in on a few things.
Immediate Aftermath
Roberts’ son saw what was going on through the screen of another boy’s cell phone, which he was apparently using as a way to zoom in for a closer look through a window. They testified that they didn’t see any genitals. Her daughter described seeing her mom and the 16-year-old “on top of each other.”
The boy with the phone was the son of Jill Weaver, Roberts’ best friend who, if I’m gathering correctly, is Roberts’ ex-husband’s sister, making the boy Roberts’ nephew (by marriage) and her son’s cousin. Hours after the rape, Roberts had accused the nephew of making a video of the event, and he called his mother to return to the party (at 2:00 a.m.) when Roberts blew up over the supposed video.
The boy said he did not record video, offering his phone so his mother could look in Roberts’ presence. But Weaver still didn’t know what was going on. In court, a prosecutor asked how they told her. “Weaver paused and appeared to become emotional before answering, ‘He [Roberts’ son] was saying [his mother had] effed his best friend’.”
Weaver later told her son by text message to “lie ’til you die” — to deny the incident happened, she admitted in court. Nice role model.
While no video has been found, there are at least two still photos, including one showing Roberts with the boy before the rape: she’s wearing a bikini. (The Roberts’ home has a swimming pool, which was part of the party’s attractions.) Another, which prosecutors described as “lewd and lascivious,” shows “Roberts straddling the victim.” Both were shown to the jury.
The Sentence
This, of course, is the crux: we’ve seen several examples in True of a woman convicted of child rape getting a light sentence while men are treated much more harshly. The citizens of DeRidder, La., think that’s the case here.
“A slap on the wrist for a child predator, because at the end of the day, that is exactly what it is,” DeRidder native Kari McGee told KALB-TV. “When it comes to children, we should use the fullest extent of the law. There are no excuses when it comes to our children,” she said.
Worse, she continued, such a light sentence discourages victims. “We tell people, hey, come forward if you’re a child victim of abuse. Then this is what happens when they do, and that’s 100 percent why people don’t come forward,” she said.
I have to agree with her. It’s bad enough to have to testify, to relive such events in excruciating detail, your motivations questioned in front of strangers, especially when facing hostile cross-examination. That takes real guts.
Roberts arriving in court for sentencing. Seeing this, one might wonder if Botox is the only “enhancement” she has gone through. (Cropped screenshot from KPLC)
For Instance, in this case the boy was asked during testimony whether he had an orgasm. Answer: no — and then he was accused of changing his story from his interview with the Children’s Advocacy Center. The judge then took a recess to review that transcript, then returned to say there was no discrepancy because he was not asked that question in that interview.
The victim’s mother addressed just this idea: “The defense tried to blame us for dragging those kids through this lengthy process that didn’t have to happen,” she said at the sentencing hearing. She focused her glare on Roberts as she continued: “Oh no, sweetheart. That was you, and you alone.”
To go through all of that only to see your abuser get a 90-day sentence after two felony convictions? You can’t blame anyone for saying “It’s not worth it.”
Such a sentence is “an insult to the actual victim and the family,” agreed Ryan Clark of DeRidder.
“What if I did that?” demanded another man, who chose to remain anonymous. “I’d be getting maxed out, no matter what, without a shadow of a doubt.”
The rape victim’s family had addressed the court before sentencing. His older sister, for instance, said that the boy called her the next morning, “crying, panicked and disgusted,” and said she thought Roberts should be ordered to pay for his therapy.
I quoted the boy’s mother in the story (describing Roberts as “a predator with high heels, extensions, Botox, and fake eyelashes”). She also expressed sadness for Roberts’ children for having to go through all of this — and had to testify in court. She observed that Roberts expressed no emotion during their testimony, and “only turned on the waterworks when the verdict came down.”
The defense paid for a psych exam to answer several questions before sentencing, including how likely it was that Roberts might commit a similar offense in the future. Not surprisingly, Dr. Sasha Joy Lambert, a clinical psychologist, testified that the likelihood of further offenses was low. Prosecutors pressed her about whether Roberts fully took responsibility for what she had done.
Roberts was “minimizing” her actions, Lambert replied, saying that Roberts’ recollections were “different” from what she was convicted of. They pressed further: Did she fully acknowledge and take accountability for her crime? “She did not,” the psychologist said. And she was on the defense’s side!
Adam Johnson, one of Roberts’ lawyers, argued that she was already getting “a life sentence” by having to register as a sex offender. Well, that’s one well-known result of committing a sex crime, eh? It’s one powerful way to say, “Stay the hell away from my family.”
The Judge’s Reasoning
Because two local judges were recused from the case, retired Judge Kent Savoie was brought in on an “ad hoc” basis to conduct the trial.
KPLC called the judge afterward to ask why the sentence was so light, but Savoie refused to give a statement, instead pointing back to the court record and his statements made during sentencing. They thus went back to the record.
During the hearing, Savoie pointed to Roberts’ statements taking responsibility being performative: “I was not particularly swayed by that.” In mitigation, he noted that Roberts had no prior criminal convictions.
While “I was substantially moved by how it affected (the victim’s) family,” he said in the hearing, “I took into account what has happened in Beauregard Parish in the past 15 years” regarding earlier cases of the sort, regarding both men and women having “carnal knowledge of a juvenile.”
Not accepting full responsibility and accountability + “substantially moved” by the victim and family = 3 months in lockup? Let’s just say I was not particularly swayed by that.
Runs in the Family
This just doesn’t strike as coincidence: while Roberts was going through the investigation, her younger (now 41) brother, Brandon Lee Roberts, was also facing serious criminal charges.
In 2024 he was charged three counts of third-degree rape, attempted first-degree rape, indecent behavior with a juvenile, and obstruction of justice, all relating to a girl he started abusing when she was 13. It’s unclear how long that went on, but he was “only” charged for three specific occurrences. He was also indicted on one count of third-degree rape involving another victim described only as a “young woman.”
Brandon Roberts pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree rape (the teen) and one count of third-degree rape (the young woman), and in November 2025 was sentenced to consecutive terms of 25 years for the second-degree rape plus 7 years for the third-degree rape. In other words, up to 32 years in the slammer.
It gives yet another data point as to the relative difference of an adult man engaging in illicit sex with a teen girl and an adult woman engaging in illicit sex with a teen boy in the same jurisdiction.
ChatGPT Analysis
As I’ve sometimes done in the past, I pasted the completed story in to cGPT to ask for its “observations” of the story, and specifically the tagline. As usual, I found its response interesting.
A few observations leap out, and they’re not all pointing in the same direction.
First, the story is about accountability arriving very late.
The opening quote is the most interesting part to me: “What an embarrassment I’ve been to this city.” because you immediately contrast it with: “I was victimized.”
That’s a complete reversal of posture. The story starts not with the crime, but with a change in narrative. She went from claiming victimhood to acknowledging responsibility. Whether that acknowledgment is sincere is a separate question, but the contrast is powerful.
Second, the victim’s mother has the best line in the story.
“This predator was not hiding in a van carrying candy or a puppy….” That’s not merely anger. It’s a critique of how people picture sexual predators. The public stereotype is male, creepy, isolated, obviously dangerous. Instead: female, attractive, elected official, trusted adult, at a child’s birthday party.
The mother is attacking the stereotype itself.
Aside: I thought it was interesting that Chatty-G proclaimed Roberts “attractive,” as her appearance is not part of the story text. That said, she is in fact reasonably attractive.
Third, the sentence feels surprisingly light.
Two felony convictions carrying up to 17 years, and the practical outcome is 90 days in jail.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with that outcome, it creates tension in the story. Readers are likely doing the math themselves and noticing the gap between theoretical exposure and actual punishment.
Fourth, the gender reversal matters whether we like it or not.
If the facts were: 44-year-old former male mayor, 16-year-old girl, sex at a child’s birthday party, most readers would expect a far harsher outcome. The story almost invites that comparison.
Gee: I’m glad it noticed! That was my intent.
Fifth, “embarrassment” is an odd word. Not “harm.” Not “damage.” Not “trauma inflicted.” Embarrassment. That word feels civic rather than personal. It frames the offense in terms of reputation rather than injury. Readers may notice that distinction.
The software is “fascinated.” Odd, but it does make some good points. (cGPT)
What fascinates me most is that mother’s observation. She isn’t really talking about Roberts. She’s talking about society’s blind spots. The predator wasn’t disguised. The predator looked exactly like someone people instinctively trust.
That’s the detail that lingers after the legal facts fade.
What makes the tagline work is that it takes the mother’s observation and generalizes it into a public-service warning. The story ceases to be about one former mayor and becomes about a cognitive error many people make.
The word “brochure” is doing nearly all the heavy lifting. A brochure contains simplified illustrations, stock photos, archetypes. In other words, exactly the sort of mental image people carry around for “predator.” Your tagline says those illustrations are inaccurate.
It also has a nice dry tone: it is much more effective than “Predators don’t always look like predators.” That is true but obvious. The brochure metaphor adds a layer of wit while preserving the point.
What I especially like is that it avoids the temptation to comment on the sentence, the gender disparity, or Roberts herself. Those are all story-specific. Your tagline extracts the larger lesson, which is the mother’s point: people often miss danger because they’re looking for a stereotype instead of a person.
That’s a classic TRUE reframing. The reader arrives thinking about a scandalous former mayor and leaves thinking about their own assumptions.
I don’t agree the tagline “avoids the temptation to comment on the sentence, the gender disparity, or Roberts herself.” The story (and tag) in isolation gives an opening to readers to think about the issues, and talk about it with others. That’s True’s primary function. Probably more than half my blog posts are extensions of the stories, looking at some of the other details and exploring the issue presented. And here we are: you’re reading this.
“That’s usually where your strongest tags live: not summarizing the story, but changing how the reader interprets it,” ChatGPT said about a different story. “A lot of writers treat the kicker as a punchline. You often use it as a lens. The story delivers the facts. The tagline tells the reader what aspect of those facts is worth contemplating, laughing at, or being annoyed by.”
At least, it does when we get it right. An LOL joke can work toward the same effect, but some stories demand a different approach.
Your Turn
If you think this page is long, consider it’s the distillation of more than a dozen different news stories totaling 14,000 words.
I’m interested in your reactions: do you think she got off easy? There is still a chance she could do hard time if she commits another offense, thus ending the suspension of her felony sentences. Though if that happens, the judge let her off easy again: he specified they would be concurrent, not consecutive like her brother’s.
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25 Comments on “Play Misty For Me”
Our criminal justice system, along with all its biases (real or not) clearly has a systemic misandry problem.
While I agree with your framing of the story and almost everything in this post, I do feel that comparing the former mayor’s sentence with her brother’s is a bit problematic. Her record showed a single infraction (at least at the time of trial) while the brother clearly showed a pattern of repeat offenses with multiple victims. I’m not saying any of your conclusions about bias in sentencing are wrong, just that your comparison case is not a super close match.
— I didn’t say that it was. Yes, there are certainly differences between a one-time alcohol-driven lustfest and an ongoing exploitation. But I couldn’t ignore the striking family “coincidence” in that very town at the same time. -rc
I think that the difference is their background, single event vs a pattern, misses the point. If she had been a male with a single event like that the book would have been thrown at her.
But that is the point of my message. Your comment is a hypothetical, it would be great to have at least one example that demonstrates your point. Do you have one (first time male offender, single incident)?
The Mary Kay Letourneau example posted by Marty is also not easy to compare because it was certainly not a one-off event.
I’m curious the reality and how it various across states and with other countries (e.g., here in Norway, there is a lot of nattering about lenient sentences for several serious crime categories).
Solid data seems hard to come by but in looking around some studies of federal data seems to indicate that women get a 20-30% shorter sentence for comparable crimes. However, a lot of data does not have gender breakdown and looks like this (PDF, for Western LA).
One surprise (to me at least) is that male perpetrators convicted of assault on minor male victims get about twice the sentence as those convicted of assault on minor female victims. (International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, requires institutional access)
It’s possible that both the offender of this story and her brother were themselves victims of sexual crimes during childhood. Maybe with each other, too. What one endures as a child often carries weight, positive or negative, in adulthood.
It is possible but not particularly rellevant (No, I am not a lawyer.)
— I agree that “Perpetuating the crime you were once the victim of” sounds like a poor mitigating factor. -rc
It only means that she was caught once. Did she rape her own son? Did she rape someone else and it wasn’t reported?
— My take: her son sounds like the sort who wouldn’t put up with that. But this is a good example of the kinds of rational questions that come up when news like this breaks. It’s probably true that the arrest in such cases is rarely for “the first time I’ve done that.” -rc
Warning: Gemini is not licensed to practice law in the state of Louisiana or on the Internet. That said….
———
The mechanism for challenging a lenient sentence in Louisiana involves specific procedures:
1. The State’s Primary Tool: Motion to Reconsider Sentence. Under Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 881.1, the State (prosecution) has the right to file a Motion to Reconsider Sentence.
The Rule: If the District Attorney believes the judge imposed a sentence that is illegally lenient, or failed to comply with state requirements, they must object at the time of sentencing or file this written motion.
The Deadline: The State must file this motion within 30 days of the sentencing date. If the DA fails to file this motion or state a specific objection, they waive the right to challenge the leniency on appeal.
2. Legal Grounds Required for a State Appeal. The Third Circuit Court of Appeal will not increase a sentence just because it seems light to the public. The State must prove one of the following:
Illegal Leniency: The sentence falls below the mandatory minimum required by Louisiana state statute for that specific crime.
Improper Deviation: The judge failed to justify a downward departure from standard sentencing guidelines under Louisiana law.
Habitual Offender Failure: If the defendant is a repeat offender, and the prosecution sought an enhancement under Louisiana’s Habitual Offender Law, the judge may have failed to properly apply the mandatory enhanced minimum.
3. Victims and the Public Lack Standing. In Louisiana, crime victims and community members do not have “standing” in criminal court. This means a victim cannot hire a private lawyer to appeal a sentence, nor can they file an appeal themselves. [In this case], the power to challenge the sentence rests solely with the Beauregard Parish District Attorney’s Office.
— Heh: it didn’t even occur to me to ask A.I. That said, my guess was that it would be up to the prosecution, and they seemed to have accepted the sentence gracefully. -rc
In the UK, a recent law change allows appeals against sentences considered too lenient. I believe anyone can do this via our “Director of Public Prosecutions” within 28 days of the sentence being imposed. This became possible a couple of years ago after a number of ridiculously lenient sentences for serious crimes.
I’m an attorney, retired now but still licensed to practice law in Florida; I represented the state of Florida on appeals in criminal cases for more than 20 years.
Whether the sentence in this case can be appealed would depend on Louisiana law, which has been addressed in some detail in another comment. But I would add that this defendant might end up in prison for up to 5 years after all, even if she doesn’t commit another crime, if she violates the terms of her probation during the probationary period, which I assume is 5 years based on the length of her suspended sentence.
I am appalled at the minimal sentence she received in this case because I’m not convinced that she won’t try to repeat it, given her attempts to cover it up and her lack of remorse. I think the emotional trauma suffered by the male victims in cases like this could be even worse than the trauma experienced by female victims in similar cases because a lot of people, including the victim’s male peers, probably think that this must have been a completely positive experience for this teenaged victim. I hope that the victim in this case gets whatever counseling he needs to properly deal with this unfortunate experience, and the criminal here should be required to pay for it.
— I appreciate an actual attorney weighing in. Thanks! -rc
Another interesting aspect of society’s gender bias is that if she applies for a job one of these days, it is unlikely that the prospective employer will search the registered sex offender list for a female while it is far more likely that a male would be checked and denied the job if found on it.
— Though so many applications have had “Have you been convicted of a crime?” for decades. -rc
Yeah, but how many convicted people are going to answer “yes”?
— Sometimes, such false answers are crimes, but either way they are usually discovered when the would-be employer does a background check. -rc
I’m reminded of the Mary Kay Letourneau case, the teacher who groomed and raped a boy from 12 yrs on. She got 7+ years in 1997 that she had to serve after violating her probation with said teen, later married and had 2 children with him. The justice system had problems then as now, but so does our society. We have so many hangups when it comes to sex in the US that we can’t even have a rational conversation about what is and isn’t appropriate for sex education at different ages. Perhaps if we concentrate more on the power play aspect of rape we could get somewhere. But I’m not holding my breath.
— Indeed not all female pedophiles are let off with a mild slap. -rc
Regarding the appeal process of the sentencing, every state will be different, but as my partner, a legal-aid attorney who has experience on both sides of criminal law, said:
In Illinois, you can appeal a light sentence if you can prove either judicial misconduct (e.g. bribery, conflict of interest) or the judge acting outside the bounds of the law (e.g. going outside of minimal sentencing requirements). You can also bring a motion to reconsider within 30 days of the sentence being handed down, but that motion is considered part of the original case so the original judge will be handling it.
The law in Lousiana is no doubt different, especially since it still has aspects of the Napoleonic code along with British common law, whereas just about every other state and the federal government have their bases just in British Common Law, but it’s still likely there’s not much chance that this sentence will be revised.
Stupid me: I missed that Roberts’ first name is Misty. But even if I had noticed, I knew there was at least one more thing I was missing.
I asked Sider.ai to explain.
My question to Sider:
This article is titled “Play Misty For Me.” I know it’s a reference either to a song or to a movie, but I don’t know the context or meaning. Can you explain that background and, then, why it fits this story?
Sider’s response:
“Misty” as the Character
The woman at the center is Misty Roberts — literally named Misty. So the title “Play Misty for Me” works as a direct pun: play (perform) the song “Misty” for me, but also “play” Misty (the person) “for me” — as in, present her, deal with her.
Why It Fits
1. The romantic-song irony. The song “Misty” is sweet, dreamy, lovesick — “helpless as a kitten up a tree.” The real Misty was the mayor, a figure of authority, who preyed on a drunk teenager at a child’s birthday party. The contrast between the soft, romantic associations of the name/song and the sordid reality of the crime is the whole point.
2. The movie parallel. In the film, the danger comes not from some anonymous stranger but from someone who seems charming, familiar, and safe — she’s a fan, a listener, a pretty woman. The victim’s mother’s testimony makes this exact point: “This predator was not hiding in a van carrying candy or a puppy. This danger came from a predator with hair extensions, high heels, Botox, and fake eyelashes.” Play Misty for Me the movie is about how danger doesn’t look like danger — it looks normal, appealing even. That’s the same shock here: a mayor, a woman, a mother at a child’s party.
3. The double meaning of “play.” In the film, the request “Play Misty for Me” is ostensibly about a song, but really it’s about control — the obsessed fan demanding attention, forcing her way into his space. Here, “play” also has a sinister undertone: Misty played the role of respected public servant while committing a crime. And the court proceeding “plays” Misty for us — presenting the full picture of who she really was beneath the mayor’s facade.
4. “For me.” The title puts the reader in the position of the one being addressed. Watch this story. See this person for what she is. It’s a dark invitation — the way the film’s title invites you into someone else’s obsession, this title invites you to reckon with the gap between Misty’s self-image (“I was victimized”) and reality (“what an embarrassment I’ve been to this city”).
It’s a grimly clever title — using a sweet jazz standard and a classic thriller to frame a real-life story about how predators can wear the most respectable faces.
— See why I like to paste stories into A.I. for its analysis? Obviously that works for web essays too. The irony is, I’ve never seen the movie, but as I was writing this page, that title occurred to me: the film hit SO hard in 1971, when I was way too young to even see it, the title phrase was big in the public consciousness, even mine. I had a vague idea what it was about, but to ensure it was a good title for the page, I read a synopsis before publishing it and was struck at just how apt it really was. So I’m gratified that someone else was “taken” enough with it to get an explanation, and I appreciate your posting it here. -rc
I was born in October 1955. I was vaguely aware of the title. That’s it. Frankly, I was astonished that you — I’m sure, a few years younger than me — even knew the reference. It’s scary to me that these kinds of cultural references that we “oldsters” might recognize are — and will yet become — less and less recognizable to those who are still alive!
— Yes, I’m several years younger, but as someone who has always been interested in writing (including scripts) perhaps I’m more aware of films than average. But indeed, the references are missed more and more each year as the memories fade. That said, it’s still the perfect title. 🙂 -rc
The thing that intrigues me here is the judge’s comment: “I took into account what has happened in Beauregard Parish in the past 15 years” regarding earlier cases of the sort, regarding both men and women having “carnal knowledge of a juvenile.”
Does this mean that he imposed a light sentence because that is what has been done by other judges in the parish in the past for a female offender? It sounds like it to me.
I can imagine that a retired judge brought in on an ad hoc basis might not want to change an established precedent (although – before retirement, did he work in that area? Did he have a hand in setting that same precedent?). But at the same time a judge also has the responsibility to deliver a just sentence, even if the historical precedent has been unjust.
Of course the ultimate question is who decides what is just or unjust. I’m not familiar enough with the way judges are appointed in the USA (or, to be fair, here either) to comment on that.
What would be the punishment if the predator was male? Black male? Black Muslim male?
— I think we both know: Significantly more severe for each step. -rc
I was struck — flabbergasted, disgusted, surprised, shocked — by the fact that someone asked the victim if they had an orgasm or not, and that there was an answer given.
What the actual eff does that have to do with anything? Even if they did, that doesn’t change anything about the fact that a child was raped. Even if Roberts had raped an adult, it wouldn’t have mattered.
I hope the prosecution effing objected loudly and forcefully when the question was asked.
From everything I’ve read so far, DeRidder sounds like a perfectly awful place to be a child.
— It is shocking, and there was no reporting as to objections. That there was an answer reported in the media is also shocking to me, even if he was an adult by the time it went to trial. Either way, it gives the impression that Louisiana is an absolutely backward, outrageous place even in the courtroom. -rc
Recently learned that about 98% of criminal cases are plea bargained.
According to Rachel Cohen, a former lawyer, prosecutors routinely overcharge so that they can plea bargain down. This suggested to me a strong possibility for abuse and inequity in the system.
Her light sentence was possibly influenced by more than her gender.
Race and income were not mentioned in the story, but even without the picture or learning how much she paid in bail, it was obvious she was most likely white and had a decent amount of wealth. (Mayor of a town of 10,000 probably doesn’t pay very much).
— Other than the bail and the photo showing she’s white, we can infer other things, such as economic status (lives in a house with a pool even after divorce, happily buys her kids alcoholic beverages for a party and, heck, hosting a party), use of DoorDash, etc. What I don’t recall from any of the articles I used for this page was mention that she was offered a plea bargain. Even if she was, she apparently declined as she went to trial on jeopardy of 17 years in prison.
All that said, yes: innocent people DO get railroaded into significant criminal convictions on fear of going to prison for 17 (or more) years, even when they know they are innocent, because there’s less risk in taking the rap in exchange for a light sentence, even though they end up with a criminal record that makes the rest of their lives harder. It’s truly not a justice system, but rather a legal system. The real concept of “justice” is often forgotten. -rc
The most upsetting part (aside from suspended prison) is how the cycle of abuse is moving forward. Obviously the Roberts household (that her and her brother grew up in) was a contributing factor and this really affected all the minors present. So where does it end?
— While it’s true that abuse can echo through generations, I’ll caution that we don’t know anything — literally nothing — about their childhood home and what abuse they did or did not suffer. It “starts somewhere” and that start could have been with their own generation. -rc
It ends with people being held accountable for their actions — whether those actions cause harm to their family members, to someone else’s family members, or to trafficked girls on someone’s private island. Accountability is key; if people are not held to account, then the abuse is left to continue unchecked.
Our criminal justice system, along with all its biases (real or not) clearly has a systemic misandry problem.
While I agree with your framing of the story and almost everything in this post, I do feel that comparing the former mayor’s sentence with her brother’s is a bit problematic. Her record showed a single infraction (at least at the time of trial) while the brother clearly showed a pattern of repeat offenses with multiple victims. I’m not saying any of your conclusions about bias in sentencing are wrong, just that your comparison case is not a super close match.
—
I didn’t say that it was. Yes, there are certainly differences between a one-time alcohol-driven lustfest and an ongoing exploitation. But I couldn’t ignore the striking family “coincidence” in that very town at the same time. -rc
I think that the difference is their background, single event vs a pattern, misses the point. If she had been a male with a single event like that the book would have been thrown at her.
But that is the point of my message. Your comment is a hypothetical, it would be great to have at least one example that demonstrates your point. Do you have one (first time male offender, single incident)?
The Mary Kay Letourneau example posted by Marty is also not easy to compare because it was certainly not a one-off event.
I’m curious the reality and how it various across states and with other countries (e.g., here in Norway, there is a lot of nattering about lenient sentences for several serious crime categories).
Solid data seems hard to come by but in looking around some studies of federal data seems to indicate that women get a 20-30% shorter sentence for comparable crimes. However, a lot of data does not have gender breakdown and looks like this (PDF, for Western LA).
One surprise (to me at least) is that male perpetrators convicted of assault on minor male victims get about twice the sentence as those convicted of assault on minor female victims. (International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, requires institutional access)
Anyone else have data (not theory) about this?
It’s possible that both the offender of this story and her brother were themselves victims of sexual crimes during childhood. Maybe with each other, too. What one endures as a child often carries weight, positive or negative, in adulthood.
It is possible but not particularly rellevant (No, I am not a lawyer.)
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I agree that “Perpetuating the crime you were once the victim of” sounds like a poor mitigating factor. -rc
It only means that she was caught once. Did she rape her own son? Did she rape someone else and it wasn’t reported?
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My take: her son sounds like the sort who wouldn’t put up with that. But this is a good example of the kinds of rational questions that come up when news like this breaks. It’s probably true that the arrest in such cases is rarely for “the first time I’ve done that.” -rc
Can the sentencing be appealed? If so, why isn’t it?
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I’ll hope an attorney will offer a reply to that: it’s out of my knowledge area. -rc
Warning: Gemini is not licensed to practice law in the state of Louisiana or on the Internet. That said….
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The mechanism for challenging a lenient sentence in Louisiana involves specific procedures:
1. The State’s Primary Tool: Motion to Reconsider Sentence. Under Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 881.1, the State (prosecution) has the right to file a Motion to Reconsider Sentence.
The Rule: If the District Attorney believes the judge imposed a sentence that is illegally lenient, or failed to comply with state requirements, they must object at the time of sentencing or file this written motion.
The Deadline: The State must file this motion within 30 days of the sentencing date. If the DA fails to file this motion or state a specific objection, they waive the right to challenge the leniency on appeal.
2. Legal Grounds Required for a State Appeal. The Third Circuit Court of Appeal will not increase a sentence just because it seems light to the public. The State must prove one of the following:
Illegal Leniency: The sentence falls below the mandatory minimum required by Louisiana state statute for that specific crime.
Improper Deviation: The judge failed to justify a downward departure from standard sentencing guidelines under Louisiana law.
Habitual Offender Failure: If the defendant is a repeat offender, and the prosecution sought an enhancement under Louisiana’s Habitual Offender Law, the judge may have failed to properly apply the mandatory enhanced minimum.
3. Victims and the Public Lack Standing. In Louisiana, crime victims and community members do not have “standing” in criminal court. This means a victim cannot hire a private lawyer to appeal a sentence, nor can they file an appeal themselves. [In this case], the power to challenge the sentence rests solely with the Beauregard Parish District Attorney’s Office.
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Heh: it didn’t even occur to me to ask A.I. That said, my guess was that it would be up to the prosecution, and they seemed to have accepted the sentence gracefully. -rc
In the UK, a recent law change allows appeals against sentences considered too lenient. I believe anyone can do this via our “Director of Public Prosecutions” within 28 days of the sentence being imposed. This became possible a couple of years ago after a number of ridiculously lenient sentences for serious crimes.
I’m an attorney, retired now but still licensed to practice law in Florida; I represented the state of Florida on appeals in criminal cases for more than 20 years.
Whether the sentence in this case can be appealed would depend on Louisiana law, which has been addressed in some detail in another comment. But I would add that this defendant might end up in prison for up to 5 years after all, even if she doesn’t commit another crime, if she violates the terms of her probation during the probationary period, which I assume is 5 years based on the length of her suspended sentence.
I am appalled at the minimal sentence she received in this case because I’m not convinced that she won’t try to repeat it, given her attempts to cover it up and her lack of remorse. I think the emotional trauma suffered by the male victims in cases like this could be even worse than the trauma experienced by female victims in similar cases because a lot of people, including the victim’s male peers, probably think that this must have been a completely positive experience for this teenaged victim. I hope that the victim in this case gets whatever counseling he needs to properly deal with this unfortunate experience, and the criminal here should be required to pay for it.
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I appreciate an actual attorney weighing in. Thanks! -rc
Another interesting aspect of society’s gender bias is that if she applies for a job one of these days, it is unlikely that the prospective employer will search the registered sex offender list for a female while it is far more likely that a male would be checked and denied the job if found on it.
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Though so many applications have had “Have you been convicted of a crime?” for decades. -rc
Yeah, but how many convicted people are going to answer “yes”?
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Sometimes, such false answers are crimes, but either way they are usually discovered when the would-be employer does a background check. -rc
I’m reminded of the Mary Kay Letourneau case, the teacher who groomed and raped a boy from 12 yrs on. She got 7+ years in 1997 that she had to serve after violating her probation with said teen, later married and had 2 children with him. The justice system had problems then as now, but so does our society. We have so many hangups when it comes to sex in the US that we can’t even have a rational conversation about what is and isn’t appropriate for sex education at different ages. Perhaps if we concentrate more on the power play aspect of rape we could get somewhere. But I’m not holding my breath.
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Indeed not all female pedophiles are let off with a mild slap. -rc
Regarding the appeal process of the sentencing, every state will be different, but as my partner, a legal-aid attorney who has experience on both sides of criminal law, said:
In Illinois, you can appeal a light sentence if you can prove either judicial misconduct (e.g. bribery, conflict of interest) or the judge acting outside the bounds of the law (e.g. going outside of minimal sentencing requirements). You can also bring a motion to reconsider within 30 days of the sentence being handed down, but that motion is considered part of the original case so the original judge will be handling it.
The law in Lousiana is no doubt different, especially since it still has aspects of the Napoleonic code along with British common law, whereas just about every other state and the federal government have their bases just in British Common Law, but it’s still likely there’s not much chance that this sentence will be revised.
Stupid me: I missed that Roberts’ first name is Misty. But even if I had noticed, I knew there was at least one more thing I was missing.
I asked Sider.ai to explain.
My question to Sider:
This article is titled “Play Misty For Me.” I know it’s a reference either to a song or to a movie, but I don’t know the context or meaning. Can you explain that background and, then, why it fits this story?
Sider’s response:
“Misty” as the Character
The woman at the center is Misty Roberts — literally named Misty. So the title “Play Misty for Me” works as a direct pun: play (perform) the song “Misty” for me, but also “play” Misty (the person) “for me” — as in, present her, deal with her.
Why It Fits
1. The romantic-song irony. The song “Misty” is sweet, dreamy, lovesick — “helpless as a kitten up a tree.” The real Misty was the mayor, a figure of authority, who preyed on a drunk teenager at a child’s birthday party. The contrast between the soft, romantic associations of the name/song and the sordid reality of the crime is the whole point.
2. The movie parallel. In the film, the danger comes not from some anonymous stranger but from someone who seems charming, familiar, and safe — she’s a fan, a listener, a pretty woman. The victim’s mother’s testimony makes this exact point: “This predator was not hiding in a van carrying candy or a puppy. This danger came from a predator with hair extensions, high heels, Botox, and fake eyelashes.” Play Misty for Me the movie is about how danger doesn’t look like danger — it looks normal, appealing even. That’s the same shock here: a mayor, a woman, a mother at a child’s party.
3. The double meaning of “play.” In the film, the request “Play Misty for Me” is ostensibly about a song, but really it’s about control — the obsessed fan demanding attention, forcing her way into his space. Here, “play” also has a sinister undertone: Misty played the role of respected public servant while committing a crime. And the court proceeding “plays” Misty for us — presenting the full picture of who she really was beneath the mayor’s facade.
4. “For me.” The title puts the reader in the position of the one being addressed. Watch this story. See this person for what she is. It’s a dark invitation — the way the film’s title invites you into someone else’s obsession, this title invites you to reckon with the gap between Misty’s self-image (“I was victimized”) and reality (“what an embarrassment I’ve been to this city”).
It’s a grimly clever title — using a sweet jazz standard and a classic thriller to frame a real-life story about how predators can wear the most respectable faces.
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See why I like to paste stories into A.I. for its analysis? Obviously that works for web essays too. The irony is, I’ve never seen the movie, but as I was writing this page, that title occurred to me: the film hit SO hard in 1971, when I was way too young to even see it, the title phrase was big in the public consciousness, even mine. I had a vague idea what it was about, but to ensure it was a good title for the page, I read a synopsis before publishing it and was struck at just how apt it really was. So I’m gratified that someone else was “taken” enough with it to get an explanation, and I appreciate your posting it here. -rc
I was born in October 1955. I was vaguely aware of the title. That’s it. Frankly, I was astonished that you — I’m sure, a few years younger than me — even knew the reference. It’s scary to me that these kinds of cultural references that we “oldsters” might recognize are — and will yet become — less and less recognizable to those who are still alive!
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Yes, I’m several years younger, but as someone who has always been interested in writing (including scripts) perhaps I’m more aware of films than average. But indeed, the references are missed more and more each year as the memories fade. That said, it’s still the perfect title. 🙂 -rc
The thing that intrigues me here is the judge’s comment: “I took into account what has happened in Beauregard Parish in the past 15 years” regarding earlier cases of the sort, regarding both men and women having “carnal knowledge of a juvenile.”
Does this mean that he imposed a light sentence because that is what has been done by other judges in the parish in the past for a female offender? It sounds like it to me.
I can imagine that a retired judge brought in on an ad hoc basis might not want to change an established precedent (although – before retirement, did he work in that area? Did he have a hand in setting that same precedent?). But at the same time a judge also has the responsibility to deliver a just sentence, even if the historical precedent has been unjust.
Of course the ultimate question is who decides what is just or unjust. I’m not familiar enough with the way judges are appointed in the USA (or, to be fair, here either) to comment on that.
What would be the punishment if the predator was male? Black male? Black Muslim male?
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I think we both know: Significantly more severe for each step. -rc
Can you say “societal racial bias?” I thought that you could.
I can’t help wondering whether the sentence would have been more appropriate if the Judge had been female.
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Interesting thought. -rc
I was struck — flabbergasted, disgusted, surprised, shocked — by the fact that someone asked the victim if they had an orgasm or not, and that there was an answer given.
What the actual eff does that have to do with anything? Even if they did, that doesn’t change anything about the fact that a child was raped. Even if Roberts had raped an adult, it wouldn’t have mattered.
I hope the prosecution effing objected loudly and forcefully when the question was asked.
From everything I’ve read so far, DeRidder sounds like a perfectly awful place to be a child.
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It is shocking, and there was no reporting as to objections. That there was an answer reported in the media is also shocking to me, even if he was an adult by the time it went to trial. Either way, it gives the impression that Louisiana is an absolutely backward, outrageous place even in the courtroom. -rc
Recently learned that about 98% of criminal cases are plea bargained.
According to Rachel Cohen, a former lawyer, prosecutors routinely overcharge so that they can plea bargain down. This suggested to me a strong possibility for abuse and inequity in the system.
Her light sentence was possibly influenced by more than her gender.
Race and income were not mentioned in the story, but even without the picture or learning how much she paid in bail, it was obvious she was most likely white and had a decent amount of wealth. (Mayor of a town of 10,000 probably doesn’t pay very much).
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Other than the bail and the photo showing she’s white, we can infer other things, such as economic status (lives in a house with a pool even after divorce, happily buys her kids alcoholic beverages for a party and, heck, hosting a party), use of DoorDash, etc. What I don’t recall from any of the articles I used for this page was mention that she was offered a plea bargain. Even if she was, she apparently declined as she went to trial on jeopardy of 17 years in prison.
All that said, yes: innocent people DO get railroaded into significant criminal convictions on fear of going to prison for 17 (or more) years, even when they know they are innocent, because there’s less risk in taking the rap in exchange for a light sentence, even though they end up with a criminal record that makes the rest of their lives harder. It’s truly not a justice system, but rather a legal system. The real concept of “justice” is often forgotten. -rc
The most upsetting part (aside from suspended prison) is how the cycle of abuse is moving forward. Obviously the Roberts household (that her and her brother grew up in) was a contributing factor and this really affected all the minors present. So where does it end?
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While it’s true that abuse can echo through generations, I’ll caution that we don’t know anything — literally nothing — about their childhood home and what abuse they did or did not suffer. It “starts somewhere” and that start could have been with their own generation. -rc
It ends with people being held accountable for their actions — whether those actions cause harm to their family members, to someone else’s family members, or to trafficked girls on someone’s private island. Accountability is key; if people are not held to account, then the abuse is left to continue unchecked.