shorter gary welsh: my buddy chris, a former rowing coach, was put through hell by mean old lawyer linda pence, just because he had sex with a couple of his 16-year-old students. for shame, linda pence! ¶

Gary Welsh should think about the support he'd get from all his Republican buddies if his rowing "friend" had been messing around with a couple of 16-year-old dudes... ¶

i'm pretty sure that seducing a 16-year-old who's supposed to be in your care is generally considered a bad thing regardless of the kid's gender.

and yes, unless i'm reading gary's post wrong, then i'm pretty sure his buddy humbert humbert was indeed guilty of child seduction under IC 35-42-4-7(c) and 35-42-4-7(h), which is a class D felony. ¶

Yeah, I would think so. I imagine the guy got by without being charged because of a lack of evidence or unwillingness to testify or some along those lines.

But kudos to Linda Pence for pursuing a civil remedy and getting guy in hot water.

IC 35-42-4-7
Child seduction
(1) at least eighteen (18) years of age; and
(2) the:
(A) guardian, adoptive parent, adoptive grandparent, custodian, or stepparent of; or
(B) child care worker for;
a child at least sixteen (16) years of age but less than eighteen (18) years of age; engages with the child in sexual intercourse, deviate sexual conduct (as defined in IC 35-41-1-9), or any fondling or touching with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of either the child or the adult, the person commits child seduction, a Class D felony. ¶

Gary has a problem with the aggressive prosecution of a civil suit against a defendant who, by his own admission, at least fooled around with high school girls that he met through his role as a coach. It's interesting, in reading the Supreme Court's very short order on the matter, that the vast majority of facts found by the Supreme Court were stipulated by the parties. Those facts included multiple findings that he engaged in sexual conduct while in some sort of a custodian role over those kids.

I'm not a huge fan of some of the decisions of the Supreme Court and recommendations of the disciplinary commission, but Gary makes mountains out of molehills. For instance, the attempt at reciprocal discipline in the Southern District. It's fairly routine, when attorneys who are admitted in multiple jurisdictions are disciplined in one jurisdiction, for the other jurisdictions to honor that discipline.

There's lots of smoke and not much fire in Gary's post. To believe Linda Pence is overzealous, we pretty much have to take the word of a guy who used the International School rowing team as a dating service. Ultimately, the Indiana Supreme Court found that Haigh violated the criminal laws of several states and suspended him for two years.

On one side, we find a highly respected attorney, an IU law professor, the staff of the Disciplinary Commission, and all five justices of the Indiana Supreme Court. On the other side, a guy who admits fooling around with high school girls he met as a coach, one of the girls in question, and Gary Welsh. Hmm...where should I come down on this? ¶