Mary Daniel, candidate for delegate in the 33rd district, sends out mounds of literature, often touting how much she supports children. From her literature, “She served as a prosecutor, putting sex offenders and other violent criminals behind bars” and “…she’s served as a court appointed representative for children.” Sounds good, but it is far from accurate.
When I looked into this claim a bit more I learned of a sensational example of Mary prosecuting a sex crime where a father sexually abused his own young daughter over for 5 years. The article was printed in the Winchester Star April 24, 2001 saying saying this father was charged with eight felony charges against his own daughter! These charges included:
Aggravated sexual battery -Aggravated sexual battery is a felony punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility for a term of not less than one nor more than 20 years and by a fine of not more than $100,000.
Three Counts of Rape– A violation of this section shall be punishable, in the discretion of the court or jury, by confinement in a state correctional facility for life or for any term not less than five years.
Malicious wounding, a class 2 felony- Class 2 felonies carry imprisonment for life or for any term not less than 20 years.
There were other charges too graphic to repeat.
These are horrific crimes and would seem to be an obvious opportunity for a prosecutor to put a child sex offender behind bars for a very long time as Mary claims she has done. As a former social worker who worked with abused children, this seemed to me the perfect opportunity to put a scumbag child sexual abuser in prison for a very long time. So what happened to this child abuser?
According to the Winchester Star article, as prosecutor Mary Daniel cut a deal putting a predator back on the street! He was sentenced to only 18 months work release!
Mary Daniel did not put this criminal behind bars; she let him off with little more than a slap on the wrist! As a lifelong child advocate, I am horrified! Now I understand people in Winchester have told me that they were less than impressed with Mary Daniel as a prosecutor!
I want an answer from Mary Daniel as to how a man can commit these horrendous crimes and be allowed back on the street, putting our children at risk. We deserve an answer from Mary Daniel! Personally, I can’t think of ANY excuse for making such a deal with a child sexual abuser! We deserve a delegate in Richmond who cares about children and will support getting child abusers off the streets and not support just giving such men a slap on the wrist and sending them back to the streets to sexually abuse more young girls! With a record like this, why would anyone who cares about children and protecting them from abusers, vote for Mary Daniel?!
