Virginia Man Offered Unusual Deal
A recent case in Virginia has received much press and public debate, as it is the first of its kind in decades, recalling a less-than-lovely aspect of the country’s legal past. A Prosecutor in the state of Virginia has offered a man the chance to have his sentence reduced in return for having a vasectomy.
Jessie Lee Herald is charged with child endangerment, hit and run, and driving on a suspended license which resulted in an accident injuring his 3-year-old son. None of the charges are related in any way to a sexual offense.
Shenandoah County assistant prosecutor Ilona White has stated that her primary motive for extending this unusual offer was to keep Herald from fathering more children. He already has seven children by at least six different women.
Charles Herald, the Defendant’s uncle, says that he believes his nephew has financially supported some of his children in the past. He was unable to say exactly how many there are. “I don’t think even he knows,” Charles Herald said.
Steve Benjamin, a former president of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said that a vasectomy simply should never be a factor in a plea negotiation for less jail time. “Sentencing conditions are designed to prevent future criminal behavior,” he said, “Fathering children is not criminal behavior. This takes on the appearance of social engineering.”
Although Herald willingly accepted the deal, many people have reacted negatively to the fact that it is uncomfortably similar in nature to eugenics – the forced surgical sterilizations performed during and prior to the 20th century on people deemed “genetically inferior” due to physical or mental disabilities.
The United States was the first country to engage in compulsory sterilization programs for the purpose of eugenics. In the United States, the principle targets of eugenics were the mentally ill and intellectually disabled. However several states also attempted to include the deaf, the blind, the physically deformed, and persons with epilepsy. The program was finally shut down due to ethical problems. Tens of thousands of people were sterilized as a result of the pseudoscience of eugenics.
Both Herald’s attorney, Charles Ramsey, and the prosecutor have spoken out against the idea that the plea deal holds any similarities to eugenics. Said Ramsey, “I understand the comparison,” Ramsey said, “but I don’t think it’s fair. That’s kind of exaggerating it.”