Matthew Owen Schaefer pleaded no contest Wednesday to amended charges of attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child, four counts of furnishing liquor to a minor and four counts of contributing to a child’s misconduct. Schaefer originally had been charged with one count of rape, five counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor and five counts of contributing to a child’s misconduct.
The plea came at a preliminary hearing that had been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Lyon County District Court. The hearing had been continued from March 14 because of a scheduling conflict of defense attorney J.R. Russell.
Prior to dealing with Schaefer’s tender of plea, District Court Judge Merlin G. Wheeler inquired of Schaefer’s understanding of his rights and the consequences of the plea. Those include a firearms prohibition, giving up the right to vote or serve on a jury for a period of time, DNA and AIDS testing requirements, sex offender registration requirements, and possible evaluation for purposes of sex-predator treatment if there is more than one conviction of a similar nature.
Wheeler accepted Schaefer’s plea and ruled him guilty of those charges.
Schaefer was ordered to report to a Court Services officer by 4 p.m. the same day. Sentencing was set for 11 a.m. May 29.
Schaefer remains free on a $75,000 bond.
hottopics (anonymous) says...
Plea Bargain for a child molester???
April 8, 2007 at 12:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
johncanyon (anonymous) says...
WOW... I dont even know where to start on this comment.
Can someone explain to me how a rapist, let alone a child rapist, can be givin a plea bargin? Attempted, aggrevated, indecent liberties with a "CHILD" and Judge Wheeler is going to take away his right to have a gun and his right to vote or serve on a jury. WOW.. way to go Merlin, that will teach this "pedafile" a thing or two about justice in Lyon County.
Didn't our county attorney have something on here a few weeks ago about cracking down on child molesters? I think he wanted to put all the responsability on the parents and churches in town.
Here is what he had to say:
Goodman decided that, as a policy of his office, he was not going to be silent; he was going to do something about it.
He said there have always been cases of 14- and 15-year-olds engaging in sexual relations with boyfriends or girlfriends who are over 16 years of age.
“We reached a level where we weren’t even sure that people knew what the age of consent was,” he said. “If they’re under 16, don’t do it. Just don’t do it. With no prior record, you’re going to prison.”
And now it sounds like this pedafile, Mathew Schaefer, is going to get a slap on the hand and a couple of his rights taken away.
Atta Boy Goodman...Way to step up and show the parents of Lyon County that you want to keep these pedafiles off the streets.
I am sure it was all just a misunderstanding on Schaefer's part. Probably just an accident that he attempted to have indecent liberties with a child and provide them with alcohol.
You make me sick!!!
I could go on and on here and I probably will later on, as I see more comments come in on this subject
April 9, 2007 at 2:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
EsqEB (anonymous) says...
Hottopics, There was no plea bargain. Read the article. Judge Wheeler accepted his plea of no contest, which means he will be sentenced as though he was proven guilty by a jury of his peers, at a cost of thousands of dollars to the taxpayers. Part of pleading no contest is that he will be a felon, and therefore lose his right to vote, sit on a jury, own a firearm etc. That is not his only punishment, as Mr Canyon is apparently under the impression of. His sentencing on May 29th, will result in further punishment. What happened today was good for the children of Emporia and the taxpayers of Lyon County. It just so happens that many morons want to see a "Law & Order" type trial, because that's how they see justice being done.
You two should read up on the law before you strike out at Judges and County Attorney's. Or just keep cutting and pasting from articles which have no bearing on what happened in Judge Wheeler's courtroom today.
April 9, 2007 at 9:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
johncanyon (anonymous) says...
"Hottopics, There was no plea bargain. Read the article."
Ok ESQ right at the top of the page, in the headline section, It says "Plea bargain in rape case" maybe if there was no plea bargain, then maybe the gazette should write there headlines different.
And as far as the law goes, I will be happy if this pervert does about 20 years, minimum, for his crime. But I would guess that our legal system will still just give him a slap on the hand, since his "plea bargain" was amended to "attempted" agravated, indecent liberties with a child. Instead of "RAPE". So in the eyes of the "law" he actually didn't rape this child, he only tried to. Thats way better than actually doing it.
April 10, 2007 at 9:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
EsqEB (anonymous) says...
Which is why you should read the article and find out for yourself. Rather than reading the headline and assuming you can gather everything from that.
April 10, 2007 at 7:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
johncanyon (anonymous) says...
If there was no plea bargain then expalain how it was amended from Rape to attempted, aggrevated, indecent liberties with a child. I am guessing that it was plea bargained to this lesser charge, so Matthew Schaefer would plead no contest and get a lesser sentence than he would have if he would have gone to court and been found guilty of "RAPE" of child.
And I did read the whole article, that's how I knew it was "plea bargained" down from RAPE to aggrevated, indecent liberties with a child and they also dropped 1 count of furnishing alcohol and 1 count of contributing to a childs misconduct. Again... all so he would get a lesser sentence. A "plea bargain"
April 11, 2007 at 9:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )