Hastert sentenced
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has received a fifteen-month prison sentence for the bank withdrawal charges involving the payment of hush money to one of his sexual abuse victims (which I had discussed previously here).
They can’t get him on the child molestation charges because the statute of limitations has run out. But he has confessed to those acts of molestation and apologized to the victims.
What a mess.
I am always astounded at the narcissism and/or denial that allows a person with this sort of history to go into politics. It’s the last thing I would think a person would do if that person had a history of child molestation. It shows a disconnect from reality that is profound.
I wrote “narcissism” because someone like Hastert probably feels that his fabulousness makes him immune to consequences. I wrote “denial” because some criminals (any kind of criminal, but especially those guilty of sexual crimes) are able to repress or suppress their own acknowledgment from themselves. They put the memory in a little box and place it high up on a shelf, and as the years go by and their secret is safe, it recedes further and further in their mind and they feel safer and safer that the truth will never come out.
Until, in Hastert’s case, it did.
For structuring withdrawals of money, a very harsh sentence. So what kind of sentence will Hillary get? Twenty years?
I should add that the sentence was surely within the federal sentencing guidelines. Not reversible on appeal.
I find it quite hilarious that Hastert was sent to prison for taking his own money out of the bank. As Harvey Silverglate has pointed out in his book, there are so many federal felonies today that everyone is a felon.
http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229
I think there will be civil suits.
parker:
Nope, the statute of limitations in Illinois for that is 10 years. See this:
I suppose they could try alleging they weren’t aware it was abuse until within the last 10 years, but that seems VERY sketchy to me.
Ace puts it well: Hamsandwich nation
It’s insane first of all that there’s a law that says anyone has to report to the government any size transaction to make. And then it becomes positively Lovecraftian that that isn’t enough — no, now it’s a crime to “structure” transactions below that threshold as well.
At some point, they’ll expand the law to criminalize making transactions just below the phantom threshold to avoid being charged for the that.
First, it was illegal to cross the threshold without reporting.
Then, it was illegal to flirt with the threshold without reporting.
Soon it will be illegal to flirt with the threshold of flirting with the threshold without reporting.
As they often say: A government wants nothing more than to criminalize all behaviors. That puts all power of discretion into their hands, and makes the citizens scared and compliant.
His crimes against his victims are serious. But the “crime” he’s being sentenced for today is no crime at all — except on the government’s part.
The statute of limitations ran out on his real crimes.
Then there is the abuse of youngsters which …
boggles the mind.
Decadence.
Parker
The money he paid the one victim was not the full amount they negotiated without lawyers. Suit to collect the rest now filed.
Hastert is so stupid. He paid too much and ignored the money structuring laws.
Neo
I suspect the new lawsuit is to enforce their oral settlement deal. That’s probably within the statute of limitations. Also partly performed so good chance to win.
Just dumb all around.
Speaking of narcissistic politicians, the trailer for the documentary on Anthony Weiner’s implosion just came out and it is hilarious:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ4FIGnJknk
Well, okay no civil suits. As a father….I am not like many on this blog. Mess with me or mine (in a serious manner) and there is no statute of limitations. Usually a rule of law person, some laws go against reason.
#NEVERGOTOSLEEPORDIEASYOUSLEEP. 24/7/365 for as long as it takes.
Somethings can never be forgotten or forgiven. I am not sorry or apologitic, its just the way I was raised and how I taught my children. I am an unforgiven guy.
Cornhead,
I am not an attorney, there are circumstances where I give not a damn about legalities. Harm me or mine, and when legalities protect the guilty, I will extract my personal justice or die trying. And no, this does not make me a SJW. Hastert I would not murder, but I would inflict pain beyond his imagination if he had harmed mine. I was taught to never rest if injustice was done to mine. And no, that does not mean I sanction the BLM idiots.
Fortunately, one of my cousins has hogs. Hogs eat everything.
Another question is, how does a former coach/teacher , then a elected official amass millions of dollars on the public payroll?
Parker must be a Deadwood fan!
Hastert was such a demented egotist he probably thought he was doing the kids a favor by showering them with his “attention”.
“Another question is, how does a former coach/teacher , then a elected official amass millions of dollars on the public payroll?”
He did it the same way 90% + of the political hacks in DC do- they sold their souls to the dark side for 30 pieces of silver. The only unfortunate thing for the nation is that they will not follow their script and go out and hang themselves! 🙁
I see where he had 60 letters of recommendation to the judge speaking about his qualities. When these letter writers found out the letters would be made public, that number dropped considerably.
Hastert is scum. But I have to say the person he paid the hush money to is also scum. He was an innocent when he was abused. He showed his true inner being when he was perfectly fine taking the $$ over doing the principled thing.
I doubt he had tucked this away in his mind. He had those payments to make and they were a constant reminder. He was just like other criminals and psychopaths, they think only of themselves, the victims are only there when they get in the way.
Ruth H:
You are way off on the time frame.
The abuse happened about 35-40 years ago. The payouts from Hastert began in 2010.
I am positing that Hastert put the incidents in a little box in his mind for all those decades in between the two events. The abuse happened when he was a young man. By the time the payouts occurred, he was an old man.
Hastert committed actual sex crimes against minors. But he’s being sent to prison for withdrawing his own money for his bank accounts. It’s just that the amounts he withdrew were just under the legal limits for banks to report it.
What the hey?
He should have gone to prison, but not for that.
How is it that “structuring” should be a crime? Should driving 64 in a 65 MPH zone be a “structuring” crime? The rationale is the same; terrorists are constantly having it into their head to drive 5 miles under the speed limit to arrive at their kill zone and avoid suspicion.
Should we use this same bizarre psychology that anyone who is speeding is a scofflaw and anyone who isn’t speeding is also a criminal?
Should owning a 7 round magazine in a state that makes it illegal to own a handgun magazine that can hold 10 rounds or more is also “structuring” a crime?
Now the self-righteous are going to say, since Hastert is an admitted child molester, I must be one, too, if I’m “agin'” prosecution for “structuring” my affairs to avoid banking laws, traffic tickets, and weapons possession violations. If I’m found in possession of a fifteen round magazine I should be locked up because only a maniac would possess a magazine that’s illegal to own in a state that doesn’t allow you to own a magazine that can hold more than ten rounds. If I’m found in possession of a magazine that can hold less than the “legal limit” I should also be locked up as I can’t possibly be up to any good.