Judge in William Allen Jordan Case Hurls Victim's Rights Back to the Stone Ages

6/5/14- Burlington County NJ- Although New Jersey revamped their sexual assault laws in 2012, today, Family Court Judge John Tomasello proved those changes could be easily undermined by a judge who’s a misogynist dinosaur.

Lewis's Case Against Jordan

Burlington County resident, Mishcelle Lewis, had petitioned the court for a restraining order against convicted bigamist and child molester, William Allen Jordan. Jordan currently awaits trial on charges of 2^nd Degree Sexual Assault by Coercion, Robbery by Fraud and Impersonating an Officer. He is currently housed in a special protective section of the Burlington County jail designated for sexual predators. His case history includes failure to register as a sex offender.

Jordan Gets Escorted Back to His Cell

Mischele and I outside the courthouse

Lewis was represented by Stanley Gregory, who minced no words laying out the facts. Lewis met Jordan in January, 2013 on a dating website. They corresponded, met several times and began a sexual relationship on April 26, 2013. He lied about his name, his age, his marital history, claimed to be adopted, educated in the UK, had no children, owned a house worth $700K, worked for the British Ministry of Defense, and a myriad of other facts. Nothing was the truth. He failed to disclose that he was a convicted child molester and bigamist. He defrauded Ms. Lewis of approximately $4,000. Lewis was clear that she would not have had sexual intercourse with Jordan if she had known the facts. She also indicated that she made an attempt to secure information on Google, but nothing came up until she ultimately learned his accurate name.

Although the bail in Jordan’s criminal case contains a “no contact” provision, Ms. Lewis wanted the added insurance that a perpetual restraining order would provide to her and her children. She was concerned about the possibility of future contact by a child molester who should have been prohibited from establishing initial contact under Megan’s Law. The British authorities deported Jordan from the UK after he served his sentence, but no notice made its way to Megan’s List.

The attorney representing Jordan, Karen Thek, stated early on that Jordan would invoke his fifth amendment rights and not testify. So the hearing was brief with only the claims of Ms. Lewis before the judge.

Judge Condemns the Victim

Although New Jersey law states clearly that the behavior of the accused is on trial, not the behavior of the victim, Judge Tomasello turned the proceedings into a condemnation of Lewis’s behavior, faulting her for a “deficiency in gullibility” because she “relied on his representations,” as if fraud was not a serious crime. He even made light of her predicament by saying “every college student would go to jail” if he upheld her claim, and he failed to acknowledge the specific section of law which Gregory quoted. Although Jordan had concealed convictions for bigamy and sexual molestation of a minor, Tomasello harped on his not being “wealthy” or having a “nice car” as not being worthy of the protection Lewis sought. She had made no reference whatsoever to Jordan’s wealth or his possession of an automobile. In fact, she later indicated that he had no car during portions of their relationship.

Sex As an Entitlement 

Judge Tomasello revealed much about his own personal beliefs in what he said today. He obviously feels, like so many others, that sex by deception by frat boys is perfectly okay. So much so that he’d deliberately fail to protect a woman with children from further contact by a sex offender in order to enable sex as an entitlement and a commodity behavior. How can society hope to stop this abhorrent mindset if our judges can’t be counted on to protect a victim’s right to self determination over their intimate sexual sanctity?

Misogyny Kills

This same mindset is thought to have motivated Elliot Rodger into unspeakable carnage recently in Santa Barbara CA, where 6 innocent victims were killed and 8 more were injured because he was unable to obtain the sexual relations he felt entitled to.  Yes, he was emotionally disturbed. Yes, he should not have had access to the weapons that enabled his rampage. But sex as an entitlement is rampart in our society, and Judge Tomasello just demonstrated why.

Surely, our Judges should concern themselves with protection against defrauding people of sex. Knowing consent is at the heart of all valid and legal interaction in all other interpersonal relationships. Why does a judge turn a deaf ear toward the deliberate undermining of knowing consent when a person’s sexual sanctity is compromised, particularly in an enlightened state where affirmative permission must be granted for sexual intercourse to be legal, and no affirmative permission can exist without the presence of knowing consent.