At a trial setting hearing for Jason Gouldon’s felony child molestation case (17CR05657) on February 25th, 2019 at the Santa Cruz Superior Court, a date was set for Mr. Gouldon’s jury trial. The trial date is November 4th, 2019 at 9am PT at the Santa Cruz Courthouse.

At the time of this update, that is 8 months away. Unfortunately justice is not always swift, and in the Bay Area the 12-month disposition rate is lower than the state average, meaning that it takes longer for felony cases to go to trial. One can only hope that this sick alleged pedophile isn’t harming other children as he awaits his eventual fate.

Let’s think about that fate for a moment. If you’ve reviewed the charges against Mr. Gouldon, you’ll note that he is facing life in prison. There’s always a chance that he’ll be given a lesser sentence, but as many readers have noted, pedophiles in prison are the lowest-of-low and marked. The Guardian reports that California Pedophile Inmates are killed at a rate that is double the national average. In 2004 ABC News reported that “Prison is ‘Living Hell’ for Pedophiles” and they “Usually don’t make it.” Gorilla Convict states that In prison, there is no creature lower than a sex offender. And an interesting article on Rebel Circus discusses what Former Convicts Reveal What Really Happens to Pedophiles in Prison. It is not the author’s opinion that Mr. Gouldon should demise, the point is rather to highlight that in these long 8 months ahead he won’t likely be able to sleep with those statistics.

I want to also discuss jury trials. I’ve personally never understood why an accused child molester would want to stand before a public court and jury. The strong feelings that prison inmates have against these sick lowest-of-low predators is not unique – it is a reflection of how we as a society feel about those who would harm children, especially in this way. I imagine anyone accused of crimes of that nature would want to avoid standing before a jury of twelve members of their local community. Then imagine the same thing, but you looked like this:

But I digress. Your comments are welcome, as always, and messages are also appreciated.