commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Our nation was shocked in February of 2007 when it learned that Rian James Wittman, a resident of the quaint old Oregon city of Albany, had gone on a 3-week stun-gun rampage in which he zapped his 18-month-old son repeatedly with a 100,000 volt stun gun. Wittman’s hideous crime was revealed to the authorities when the child’s mother, who was 21 at the time, went to the Albany Police Department and turned him in.
Wittman was arrested without incident later that same night just after 10 pm at the family’s residence in the 1900 block of SE Hill Street and taken to the Linn County Jail. The child was taken to Samaritan Albany General Hospital where he was examined and treated for numerous wounds conforming to the stun gun’s electrode pattern on his arms, back, chest and left leg.
The child was later taken into protective custody by the Department of Human Services.
Considering what he had done, Wittman was probably pretty lucky to be offered a plea deal calling for four years in prison based on two counts of third-degree assault.
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End of story, we would think (if there is ever an end to the story when dealing with this type of rebroabate). Creep goes to prison, does his time and gets out. God only knows what happens then? We would hope that the conditions of his post-release supervision would carefully monitor and limit his interactions with young children (or any children for that matter).
Sad to say, it was already too late. Today, we learned that Wittman had already committed a series of serious sexual crimes prior to his stun-gun rampage. The wheels of justice, although maddeningly slow much of the time, sometimes turn in the right direction…
Kyle Odegard of the Albany Democrat-Herald writes:
A man who made national news in 2007 for zapping his 18-month old son with a stun gun was arrested on sex crime charges by Albany police on Wednesday.
Rian James Wittman, 30, of Keizer, was charged in Linn County Circuit Court on Thursday with five counts of first-degree sex abuse and three counts of first-degree sodomy.
Judge Thomas McHill set Wittman’s bail at $100,000.
Prosecutor George Eder asked for bail of $200,000, citing Wittman’s criminal history and saying that Wittman faced 25 years in prison if convicted on a specific charge because of the age of the victim at the time.
Wittman’s lawyer, Salem defense attorney Robert Gunn, countered by pointing out that Wittman had voluntarily turned himself in to the Albany Police Department, which as an act of good faith, according to Gunn, supported setting bail at $50,000.
The judge appears to have compromised by coming up with the figure somewhere in between the two requests. (I note that if this was a Federal case here in LA, it would be a foregone conclusion that Wittman would be denied bail under the theory that he is a danger to the community.)
The alleged victim in the new sex case is an adolescent male who Wittman knew during the 2006 to 2007 time frame.
The defendant’s next hearing is scheduled for 8:30 am on April 28.
All of the charges Wittman faces are Measure 11 offenses that carry mandatory minimum sentences. For example, the minimum sentence for first-degree sodomy under Measure 11 is 8 years and four months. I’m uncertain whether Oregon judges have the discretion to run multiple counts concurrently. If not, three counts of first-degree sodomy equals 25 years with no chance of early release.
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There’s an important and frightening lesson embedded in this cruel story. When you consider just how horrible Wittman’s stun-gun rampage was, especially since it was directed at a toddler, doesn’t it stand to reason that this black-hearted miscreant could very well have also been doing other terrible things? Of course. The little light bulb comes on. Creeps of this sort are not like your garden variety white-collar fraudsters who more often than not limit their serious misdeeds to monetary matters. Hell no! A guy who would repeatedly give his son 100,000 volts is probably capable of anything, don’t you think?