Lexington, KENTUCKY

Feb 22, 2007 - Charles Little Jr., 57, a popular music teacher at Booker T. Washington Academy, now retired, was indicted on charges he sexually abused three teenage boys more than 20 years ago. The grand jury dismissed charges against another man connected to the case.

Little faces three counts of third-degree sodomy, a felony, for "engaging in deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years old." Two of the victims were incarcerated at the time of the accusations. A third victim spoke with the newspaper.

Little retired from Lexington Traditional Magnet School in June 2001 with 30 years of service, was working as a part-time band and orchestra teacher at The Academy at Lexington, which is now Booker T. Washington Academy, at the time of his arrest. Arraignment is set for March 2.
Full Name: Charles F. Little, Jr.

ALFORD PLEA Dec 14 - Little entered an Alford plea of guilt -- meaning he was not admitting guilt, but acknowledging there was enough evidence to find him guilty if he went to trial -- to three counts of sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of six to 12 months in prison.

Fayette County Circuit Court judge Kim Bunnell requested that Little undergo a sex offender evaluation. The judge had some odd remarks:

"I don't like to set people up for failure; I like to set people up to succeed," she told Little. “I don’t know you. I don’t know what’s going on. I know we have some very serious allegations here. We’ll do anything we need to do to assist you and to make sure we don’t find ourselves at this situation again.”

The misdemeanor charge allows Little to avoid registering as a sex offender. Prosecutors recommended six months for each charge. He will be sentenced Feb 8. [The Alford plea means that Little can't be sued by his victims. See CORRECTION below.]

SENTENCED - Feb 8 - Little was sentenced to one year in jail - not prison - followed by two years' probation. He will not be required to register as a sex offender. The judge suspended the jail sentence.

[Fayette Circuit Judge Kim] Bunnell said she decided against sending Little to prison, in part, because she was swayed by a flood of letters of support from Little’s friends, former students and colleagues — some of whom were people Bunnell greatly respected. But the judge also said she didn’t have any reason to believe that Little, whose criminal record didn’t boast more than a speeding ticket, would not be able to succeed on probation.

The decision led to sighs of relief on one side of the courtroom; and sobs of despair on the other.

TT - Another popularity contest and a judge vying for an appearance on the Jerry Springer Show on "Bozo Judges in the Courtroom, We Love Em!".

What does that tell victims when they come forward? It says, "You don't count. Cause you don't have letter-writing colleagues and former students who were lucky enough not to be targets."

The judge is fond of letters, apparently. (Previous court room antics.)

CORRECTION: Someone pointed out that the Alford plea doesn't mean that he can't be sued. It doesn't take a finding of guilt to sue in Kentucky and that's true in every state. The Alford plea is a guilty plea only for the purposes of sentencing. It can't be used in a lawsuit as an admission of wrongdoing. Having clarified that, we feel better.