Pedophilia charges dropped due to drunken Iowa prosecutor

In September of last year, 22-year-old Dennis Simmerman was charged with having sex with a 13-year-old boy. Police say he admitted to Clark County, Iowa detectives that he’d also traded lewd photos with the kid.

Since police had a confession, it would seem an open and shut case. But the American just system does not move with haste.

It would take a year of back-and-forth before Simmerman was prepared to plead to a class D felony. Then fate – and a drunken prosecutor – would deliver him from his sins.

Enter Clark County Attorney Michelle Rivera, the locale’s chief law officer since 2011.

On October 18, a sheriff’s deputy noticed Rivera behaving drunkenly in court. She was “slurring her words and stumbling on her feet,” and “sat in a chair and swayed her head back and [forth], actions common with being intoxicated,” according to the subsequent criminal complaint.

Read more: http://www.citypages.com/news/pedophilia-charges-dropped-due-to-drunken-iowa-prosecutor/503149621