The Scoop: Throw him in jail! But for 45 years?
If you thought you heard construction noises in Murfreesboro Tuesday, you weren’t far from the truth. Those noises were the sound of Craig Fults getting hammered by a Murfreesboro judge, as the Warren County native received a 45-year sentence for a sexual relationship he had with a 16-year-old boy.
Fults should be punished for the relationship, no doubt about it. In fact, he should be punished severely. But I have to raise my hand and ask if 45 years — to be served at 100 percent — is not just a little extreme.
That statement comes from a guy who has no problem slamming the door and throwing away the key when it comes to criminal sentencing. I say the bigger the jail the better. I do nothing but shake my head when it comes to people serving 10 days of a two-year sentence. I don’t ever want to come across as being soft on crime.
Yet I have to wonder why Fults could very likely spend the rest of his life in jail while other sexual predators have received not much more than a light spanking. Let’s examine some fairly recent local examples.
Bobby George — There were 10 victims he molested to varying degrees, all boys from 13-15 years old. George molested two of his victims much the same way Fults molested his 16-year-old victim.
It would be fair to say that through his abuse, George left emotional scars on 10 young boys. Yet when it came time for sentencing, George was ordered to serve all of one year in jail. Virtually everyone I’ve heard comment on this case agrees the sentence was a cruel joke.
Carolina Nunley — She was a longtime Warren County resident before taking a teaching job in Murfreesboro, coincidentally at the same school, Barfield Elementary, as Fults. She was convicted of having a sexual relationship with a student there, an eighth-grade boy.
Yet for reasons unknown, and even harder to explain, Nunley had her day in court and walked away with absolutely no jail time. All she received was probation.
Craig Fults — He had a long-standing sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student. He claims the relationship was consensual. While this claim is certainly questionable, Fults did shower the teen with gifts and even bought him a car. He ate dinner at the teen’s house on several occasions — even ate with the teen’s mother.
For his crime, Fults, 39, was ordered to stay in jail until he’s 84. The rest of his life, for all intents and purposes, will be spent in a cell.
Now I’m by no means trying to make light of Fults’ actions. We can’t under any circumstances allow our teachers to take advantage of school children.
But I also firmly believe justice must be administered fairly. While it’s one thing to “send a message” it’s another thing to hand down a ridiculous sentence — especially one that’s not in accordance with recent sentences.
A judge, for example, might want to “send a message” to shoplifters and show stealing will not be tolerated. That get-tough strategy sounds great to me, but, by the same token, I wouldn’t want to see a shoplifter sentenced to 15 years in jail. I especially wouldn’t want to see a 15-year shoplifting sentence if every other shoplifter was only serving 10 days. That’s not justice.
So what’s a fair punishment for Fults? I’m sure everyone has a different opinion but I say 10 years in jail, a solid decade, is enough to deliver a resounding message.
I do know letting Bobby George out after one year, and not making Carolina Nunley serve any jail time at all, is nothing more than a mockery. And making Craig Fults serve 45 years is way too much. That is unless we’re going to start making people serve eight months in jail for jaywalking.
(James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)