July 2007
A mother and her boyfriend ended up receiving a combined prison sentence of 8 years for giving a 6-yer-old pot and alcohol. The investigation started after the child apparently told police he had smoked marijuana with his mom, 26-year-old Regina Martinez, and her boyfriend, 21-year-old Jason Ladehoff, on numerous occasions. He also said that the two had given him alcohol, but only “mostly on weekends.” That’s good. You can’t be drinking on a school night, even if you are in the afternoon kindergarten session. According to officials, this has been an ongoing thing, starting when the boy was 5-years-old or younger.

Regina pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and child abuse. She had been on parole at the time of her arrest, and a judge handed out a 5-year prison sentence to her. Jason pleaded guilty to the same charges, and received a 3 year prison sentence on June 4’th, a month earlier.

At Jason’s sentencing, public defender Eric Sims described the situation as “a tragedy” and said of Jason: “He’s a good guy. You do some really retarded things when you’re high. You don’t think about the long-term consequences.” He also noted that Eric had grown up in an abusive home, and had no prior felony convictions.

When asked why he did it, Jason couldn’t explain, stating “my past, I guess. It was the way I was raised.” Jefferson County District Judge Lily Oeffler replied by asking him: “Did that work out well for you?” His reply: “No. I’m here.”

Judge Oeffler rejected a plea for probation, and finished by telling him: “Your life growing up was horrible. What you’ve done is cause a 6-year-olds life to be horrible. You have an obligation to stop that.”

Obviously, what these two adults did was irresponsible to the utmost degree. Not only were their actions indicative of a poor role model, but early exposure to such toxins has the potential to inhibit brain development. There is no defending their actions. But this case is also a perfect example of State workers losing sight of what is important and causing harm of their own in the process. With the help and approval of Judge Oeffler, Jefferson County did more damage than the actions of this boy’s irresponsible mother and her boyfriend did.

While intervention was necessary to protect this child, it is NEVER necessary to intervene in the most harmful and destructive ways conceivable, which is what was done here. This child lost his mother and his home. He was yanked away from everything he ever knew, and will be left with the guilt that he put his mother in prison. He was traumatized in a way he may never recover from. This isn’t abuse he suffered in his home, this is abuse he suffered at the hands of state officials, and in fact, the state has a worse long-term outcome track record than physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and any other trauma you could manage. (See ‘Child Maltreatment,’ Global Children’s Fund, 2008, available at www.keepyourchildsafe.org)

So shame on you Judge Oeffler. What made this child’s life “horrible” were your actions. As irresponsible as the actions of
these two were, you managed to outdo their evil deeds. You took a wrong that could have been easily corrected, and responded with wrongs of your own that were far more harmful. If justice is really about making people responsible for their injurious actions, read up on the damage caused to kids by you and your friends versus the damage caused by the different forms of abuse and neglect. Then, we’d like to know, when will you report to prison to start serving your deserved sentence?