Nothing Left to Lose!

 

Since I posted the letter to the Detective, I will also post the article that appeared in the Gazette, the day after his sentencing. 

 

I will not ‘hide’ the names, for this article appeared as is, in the local paper, dated May 28/29 (weekend addition) 2005.

 

“Hancock Man Sentenced On CSC Charge To Serve No Jail Time.”

Huhta to be on probation in Texas

By Garrett Neese – Gazette writer

 

Houghton – A 75 year old man accused of sexually molesting an 8-year-old girl will live in Texas in lieu of Jail Time.

 

Raymond Huhta, of Hancock, would have faced up to six months in prison had he stayed in Michigan.

 

He was charged with one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a high court misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison, a $500 fine and a mandatory HIV/AIDS testing.

 

Huhta was accused of sexually touching the girl between Oct 1 and Nov. 7 of last year.  He pled no contest to the charge, which is treated as an admittance of guilt for sentencing purposes.

 

At the time, a second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge was also dropped.  The felony charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

 

Huhta will be on probation for several years, during which time he cannot return to the 12^th District, which includes Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw counties.

 

The 96 days he has already spent in the Houghton County Jail awaiting sentencing will be counted towards that time.

 

The victim’s father recommended Huhta be allowed to live with his daughters in Texas rather than go to jail.

 

“It’s been a long, rotten ordeal, and from what I understand, he’s served 90 days, and I feel no better….I know that’s where he wants to go, and it’s where I want him to go,” the father said.  “The faster he gets there, the happier I’ll be.”

 

Hood said he would set aside the six-month prison time due to the man’s request.

 

“It carries a lot of weight to me when the victim’s asking me to do something,” he said.

 

Bob Daavettila, Huhta’s attorney, pointed out that this was Huhta’s first charge, and that he had ‘raised, clothed, fed and educated 14 children” during his 50-year marriage.

 

Huhta stood next to Daavettila, squeezing a facial tissue in his left hand and occasionally raising it to blow his nose.  When asked by Hood if he had anything to add, a crying Huhta declined.

 

Mike Huhta, one of Raymond Huhta’s sons, said he could begin driving his father to Texas within hours.

 

“We could be in Kansas City by midmorning tomorrow,” said one of his sons.

 

While on probation, Huhta will be prohibited from verbal, written, electronic or physical contact with any child 16 years or younger.

 

If he returns to the 12^th District without the approval of the court, he will serve a minimum of six months in jail.

(end of article)

 

In the past few days as I looked upon the old articles, the old journal entries and emails, it astounds me how this all played out in the court of the land and within my family between parents and siblings.

 

It is beyond what the mind can comprehend how justice was “served”, that we the people of the land took ‘care of’ a man who is hurtful to little girls, by allowing him to go free!

 

There is no way that all parties involved, whether they will acknowledge it to themselves or not, do not know that they allowed a pedophile with a 40 plus year history to walk free.

 

While I would like to believe once again that the justice system will prevail and consequences for unspeakable behavior will be handed out with Mr. Seppanen, I am sitting here very very skeptical. 

 

I walked down this road and watched the way it all turned and in the end, the girls were left with our undies down, our shame and embarrassment showing, and he skips away free.

 

What I am certain must happen, there has to be a change in the way we handle these cases, a way in which there is no statue of limitations, like abuse fades in time to a blurry splotch of nothing.  We, the ones who walked the longest with the abuse, our voices should be permissible in the court room, a choir of girls singing loudly and clearly just what affects they have lived with because of one man.

 

The Detective sat in my home in utter amazement to the length of time, the amount of girls and the volume of people who knew and did nothing.

 

I told him after the trial, that he just joined a long long line of folks who knew and did nothing. 

 

A pastor, the neighbors, A social worker, fathers of a victim, a Detective, a Prosecutor, and a Judge, all seen him, some had him in jail and actually the state paid to haul his ass up here, and all of these people all did nothing, at the end of the day, he walked away free.

 

I could do nothing. 

I was beyond the statue of limitations.

I was just an old victim.

 

I had no courtroom.

I had no law book.

I had no jail key.

The trial was not about me.

 

As I sit here 5 years later, this still amazes me that this man who literally raped my friends and me, who abused in various ways and degrees way too many little girls, his daughters, granddaughters and their friends, HE was set free!

 

Justice?  Justice, I plead; there is no justice in what the court of the land allowed!

 

Even as I speak of this today by writing in a blog, by not associating with my family who ‘loved and supported a father’ who is a pedophile, I am the one who is seen as a monster.

 

Me?  

 

If this seems absurd to you, imagine living this out if full color!

 

The longer I walk it the more insane it seems.

 

I had faith in the law and in the Justice system, a faith I had not tried until his trial, I am now faithless.

 

I always knew my family stood behind me, I knew that I could rely on anyone of them in my greatest need, it perhaps was the hardest thing to see, the crumbling of what I thought stood behind me.

 

I think when your whole world crumbles, when you are standing there hopeless and helpless surrendering to the truth of Reality, Grace arises within you, wisdom I never even knew existed stepped forth, I was not alone inside!

 

A little voice, strong and resolute  connected to the Universe and led me forward, allowing me to see Reality and a way forward and gave me strength and courage to always speak and act in a way that I would never have imagined.

 

“Forgiveness is Knowing the Past will not change,” and freedom comes when you have nothing left to lose!