Victims Outraged As Judge Seeks Job Back

[Rose Siding]

CONCORD, N.H. -- A judge's bid to be reinstated after he was convicted of groping five women while drunk at a conference on domestic and sexual violence is sparking outrage among his victims.

Joan Sergio, one of the women groped by District Court Judge Franklin Jones, said reinstating him would send a message to victims that the state doesn't take sexual assault seriously and would imply alcohol abuse can excuse a crime.

"If he's reinstated, it's a crime in and of itself," Sergio said in a telephone interview Friday. "People are going to look at it and think the judicial system's a joke."
Jones grabbed the women's breasts and buttocks in May while attending the conference. Jones, who has said he was so drunk he doesn't fully remember the night's events, knew the women because they worked as victim advocates in his courtroom.
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Jones' defense team packed the committee's hearing room with supporters Wednesday. The supporters, some of them women, included a state senator, police officers and prosecutors who praised Jones' performance as a judge and said one incident shouldn't end his career.

Victims and advocates called the show of support a travesty, particularly because participants included public officials responsible for arresting, prosecuting and sentencing sex offenders. Sergio and two other victims testified Wednesday.

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