Judge 'vindictive' for giving child molester more prison time, appeals court says

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Ronald Edwin Bradley II currently is locked up at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Eastern Oregon for molesting a child back in the 1990s. Washington County Circuit Judge Rick Knapp was "vindictive" for re-sentencing him to more time for the one victim, the Oregon Court of Appeals said Wednesday.

(Oregon Department of Corrections)

The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled that Washington County Circuit Judge Rick Knapp was being "vindictive" when he resentenced a convicted child molester to more than 15 years in prison.

The sentence was over five years longer than the defendant had previously received for molesting one child.

Ronald Edwin Bradley II no doubt expected a shorter sentence, given that the Appeals Court recently had thrown out his convictions involving a second child.

But Knapp thought otherwise.

The Appeals Court found that Knapp had "effectively punished (the) defendant for his success on appeal."

It's rare for the Appeals Court to find that a lower court judge acted with spite.

"It is one of the very few (rulings) where a court has said this, in the whole country," said Meredith Allen, an attorney with the Office of Public Defense Services, which represented Bradley in his appeal of the 15-year prison term.

Bradley is now 49 and serving time at the Snake River Correctional Institution in eastern Oregon. His legal troubles began in 2007, after two alleged victims came forward to police to report that Bradley had repeatedly sexually abused them while he was living in the same home with them from 1993 to 2000.

A jury in 2009 found Bradley guilty of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, sodomy and sexual abuse of the two children.

But Bradley appealed and the Appeals Court in 2012 upheld his convictions for molesting the first child, but reversed his convictions for the second child. The Appeals Court ruled that the prosecutor hadn't given Bradley's defense attorney proper notice of specific statements that a police officer planned to testify about in court. The officer's testimony had significant impact by bolstering the credibility of the second child, the Appeals Court said.

The second child had alleged extensive abuse during trial testimony, including saying Bradley molested her in the top bunk of her bed while her brother slept below.

As a result of the 2012 Appeals Court decision, the molestation convictions for the first child stood and went back to Knapp's Washington County courtroom for resentencing.

The judge stressed during the 2013 hearing that he wasn't acting vindictively.

"Okay, so let me first put on the record that the sentence that I am about to impose is not a vindictive sentence," Knapp said, according to an Appeals Court summary of the case. "There is nothing vindictive about this case. ... I am not being vindictive."

The judge also noted that in total, he was actually shortening the overall sentence that he had previously given Bradley for molesting both children.

In 2009, Knapp sentenced Bradley to nearly 18 years in prison: 9 1/2 years for the first child and 8 1/3 years for the second child.

At the resentencing, Knapp gave Bradley 15 1/3 years in prison, solely for molesting the first child.

He explained that he was increasing the sentence for the first victim because he could consider other factors, including the existence of the second alleged victim, even with the reversal.

The Appeals Court found the judge's reasoning to be "problematic" -- and sent Bradley's case back to Washington County Circuit Court for another resentencing.

Bradley won't be sentenced by Knapp again because he retired in June.

The Appeals Court decision was made by a three-judge panel: Timothy Sercombe, Douglas Tookey and Meagan Flynn.

Read the opinion here.

-- Aimee Green

503-294-5119

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