The Judge's Reversal of His Own Guilty Verdict on the Defendant

An Illinois judge reverses an 18-year-old man’s sexual assault conviction — saying that the 148 days he spent in jail was “plenty of punishment.” Cameron Vaughan, 16, went to a graduation party on May 30, 2021. Vaughan, who waived her anonymity, says that she woke up at a friend’s home with a pillow over her face and 18-year-old Drew Clinton raping her. After the assault, the girl told her father, who called the police. Clinton has claimed the encounter was consensual. Clinton had a bench trial in October, which resulted in Adams County Judge Robert Adrian convicting him of sexual assault. The charge carries a minimum sentence of four years in prison. During Clinton’s sentencing hearing on January 3, Judge Adrian announced that the teen would not be sent to prison as he is changing his verdict to not guilty. The judge said that Clinton has already spent 148 days behind bars — which he asserted was “plenty of punishment,” according to WGEM. The judge not only noted that Clinton had no prior criminal history, but he criticized the parents at the graduation party for allowing minors to drink alcohol and swim in the pool in their underwear. Judge Adrian has faced mounting backlash for not only reversing Clinton’s conviction but for the victim-blaming comments he made during his sentencing hearing. He has been reassigned.

Joining Nancy Grace today:

• Megan Duesterhaus, Ph.D. - Executive Director, Quincy Area Network Against Domestic Abuse (QUANADA), Quincy Illinois www.quanada.org, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/quanada/
• Darryl Cohen - Former Assistant District Attorney, Fulton County, Georgia, Defense Attorney, Cohen, Cooper, Estep, & Allen, LLC, www.ccealaw.com  
• Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, (Atlanta GA) www.angelaarnoldmd.com, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital 
• Sheryl McCollum - Forensic Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, ColdCaseCrimes.org, Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
• Dr. Ron Elfenbein - Emergency room physician Founder and Medical Director  FirstCall Medical Center Gambrills, Maryland. Author, Surviving Coronavirus: An ER Doc's perspective (Free- Barnes and Noble)
• Matt Hopf - Executive Editor, The Herald-Whig, Quincy Illinois,  WHIG.COM, Instagram/Twitter: @MHopfWHIG 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.