If plea deal for child sex abuser is ‘justice for all,’ then Lord help us | Opinion
After reading the story about the sexual abuse of Keisha Etienne, I joined her in her pain and outrage at the plea deal that allows him not to be registered as a sex offender.
While Etienne, now 36, is left to deal with the trauma caused by what Albert Bassett, now 90, did to her, starting when she was 9 years old and lasting for nearly a decade, Bassett is free from registering as a sex offender and is free to live within walking distance of schools, where hundreds of children attend every day.
On Tuesday, Bassett appeared before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Alberto Milian and pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. He was also ordered to complete 10 years probation and stay away from the victim, according to Miami Herald reporter Grethel Aguila’s reporting.
But the plea deal didn’t require him to be registered as a sex offender.
In 2019, he was charged with four counts of sexual battery on a minor and three counts of lewd and lascivious conduct. If he had been convicted of the sexual battery charges, he would have been required to register as a sex offender in the state’s sex-offender registry.
According to Grethel’s story, Milian said he felt compelled to accept Bassett’s plea deal, saying, “... maybe this is the best society can do” and “This is justice for all.”
If what happened to Etienne is “justice for all,” then Miami-Dade County, and indeed America, needs to go back to the drawing board. We need to take a long look at what we call “justice for all.” If the plea deal is the best that society can do about making right the wrong that was done to the then 9-year-old Etienne, all I can say is, “Lord, help our society.”
Apparently, Bassett is let off the hook, so to speak, because he paid for dental braces and other expenses for her during her childhood. Etienne’s attorney alleged that an official at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said Bassett’s gestures could be interpreted as “reparations” by a jury, though the state attorney’s office denied using the word “reparations” in discussions about the plea deal.
In a closeout memo, however, a Miami-Dade prosecutor pointed to the “emotional and financial relationship” between Bassett and Etienne as a reason for the deal. His sentence, according to the document, also includes the same conditions outlined for sexual-offender probation “thereby giving the Victim all of the restrictions and safeguards of sexual offender probation without the duty to register.”
Prosecutors, the memo states, agreed to have Bassett plead guilty to non-sexual charges so that he wouldn’t have to register as a sex offender, which “would have the unintended consequence of requiring the Defendant to move from his residence.”
I am appalled by this reasoning. What defense did a 9-year-old Black child have against a grown white man? The odds were already stacked against her. And, anyway, it would always be her word against his.
To those of you who will read this and say I am being prejudiced for bringing up the Black/white issue, you know in your heart that I am right. Had the roles been reversed, the outcome would have been a lot different, you can be sure of that. I can’t imagine a Black man of any age, getting away with sexually abusing a white child. And nor should he.
I hurt for Etienne, and for all the children who have suffered sexual abuse, especially those who have been abused by people to whom their young lives had been entrusted. Bassett was the boyfriend of Etienne’s aunt. Etienne trusted him. He was nice to her, and she saw in him the father-figure she was looking for.
In my opinion, offenders like Bassett are the very worst in our society. They prey on the vulnerable children who are desperately looking for a father or mother figure. Once the child is in the clutches of the disgusting sex offender, he/she then uses their evil magic to lure the child into what, as is in the case of Etienne, often years of abuse.
In so doing, the sex offender unashamedly steals the childhood of his/her victims and often leaves them so broken that some are never able to make their way back.
“But that’s not what I received,” Etienne said. “Instead of love, affection, and support, I was met with lies, manipulation, grooming, abuse, and rape. The pain that this has caused me every day of my life — for close to 30 years — is unfathomable for most. But it is my reality.”
I can only imagine Etienne’s pain. What I can’t imagine or understand, is the plea agreement, negotiated by Bassett’s defense team and approved by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
I don’t pretend to understand or even know how our court system works. But there is something about the plea deal that really stinks to me. It is bad enough that Bassett got off without any jail time, but he doesn’t even have to register as a sex offender.
While there still doesn’t seem to be much justice for some of us, especially people who look like me, we must keep the faith and hang on to hope. Bassett is 90. Sooner than later, he will have to stand before the real True Judge. And there won’t be any getting by for him, then.
To you, Keisha Etienne I say, hold on to that hope. I am proud of you, and I am thankful that even through your years of pain and suffering, you were able to forge through the darkness and you kept on going.
No child or anyone, should have had to live through the unfortunate abuse you endured. But you went through those muddy waters and even with the dirt that was hurled your way, you still emerged sparkling clean. What’s more important is that you are still able to stand tall, with your head lifted. Bassett abused you. But thank God, he did not break you.
So, thank you for continuing to stand in your truth, continuing to be a beacon for others who have suffered, and for those who are still suffering. Let your voice for the voiceless continue to cry loud. Some of us hear you.