Bail Set at $1 Million Dollars For Man Accused of Raping Homeless, Disabled Person

A man who is suspected or raping a homeless, disabled woman at least 3 times has had his bail set at $1 million dollars. According to an article written by Paradise Afshar for local10.com, Nelson’s defense attorney requested his bond be set at $150,000 but that request was denied ($150,000 is a bond amount seen quite frequently in St. Louis, MO by Bob Block Bail Bonds). In addition, the judge apparently lectured Nelson about his behavior.
 
Afhsar goes on to report that “It was on Jan. 17 that Nelson began to rub up against the victim’s body, who was sleeping in the 2000 block of Scott Street, police report said. He then pushed the victim, cannot walk, to the floor and said he’d punch the victim if the person attempted to scream. The victim screamed, was punched in the face and then raped, police said. Nelson then returned a few hours later and said he wanted to have sex again.”
 
You can read the entire article here titled: Broward County judge sets $1 million bail for alleged rapist
 
Interestingly enough, while this defendants bail is set at $1 million dollars, most likely making it impossible for him to be released from jail, a recently convicted rapist has only been sentenced to a total of 6 months in jail, and 3 months with “good behavior.”
 
According to an article posted on the Fox 2 Now St. Louis website by CNN Wires, the convicted rapist, Brock Turner is accused of having sex with an unconscious female at a fraternity house. Turner was a student at Stanford University. The full article, Stanford rape case: Inside the Court Documents, goes on to mention that witnesses saw Turner on top of the girl, that he smelled of alcohol, and was held down until law enforcement arrived.
 
The article also reports that “When law enforcement arrived, one of the deputies, in a loud voice, asked the victim several times, “Can you hear me?” There was no response. Paramedics tried a “shake and shout” technique and applied a physical pain stimulant. Still no response. She vomited once but didn’t regain consciousness. In an ambulance later, a deputy tried to wake her repeatedly, without success. There was still no response after an EMT stuck an IV needle in the young woman’s arm. The victim finally regained consciousness about 4:15 a.m. at a hospital. Later that morning, doctors said her blood alcohol concentration was 0.12% — and estimated her intoxication level at the time of the assault to be 0.22%.”
 
Turner admitted to digitally penetrating the victim but denied that he ever exposed his genitals.
 
In another article posted on the Fox 2 Now St. Louis Mo website written by Kevin S. Held, titled Letter from Brock Turner’s mother – Prison ‘would be a death sentence for him’, held reports that Turner’s mother pleaded for mercy on her sons behalf.
 
According to Held, a four page letter was written to the judge that was responsible for sentencing Brock. A portion of the letter as reported by Held said “My first thought upon wakening every morning is “this isn’t real, this can’t be real. Why him? Why HIM? WHY? WHY?” I have cried every single day since Jan. 18. This is on my mind every moment. But in the months leading up to the trial, we had hope. Brock told us what happened and his accounting of the events of that night never changed from the first time he told us everything. He was a shy and awkward 19-year old, far away from home trying to fit in with the swimmers he idolized. He is the most trust-worthy and honest person I know. He was telling the truth. We knew once he had to opportunity to tell what happened this would all go away.”
 
Now, both of these men were accused of sex crimes, so why the disparity in treatment? Does money or race play a part? Some of these questions are answered in the video below titled “The Sentencing Project: Racial Disparity in the Prison System”
 

 
As stated earlier in the article Brock Turner was sentenced to only 6 months in jail, and will probably only serve 3 of those months. Yet, a man who has not been convicted of anything will probably sit in a jail cell while his case goes on for a longer period of time than the convicted man. Even though Turner could have faced up to 14 years in prison, the prosecution recommended 6 years- still a far cry from the 6 months he received.

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