For once, there is a glimmer of hope that justice is being served and our court system actually works.  It works for the true victim that is and not some felonious predator “defendant” who suddenly becomes the “victim” as soon as he’s arrested.  That’s what happens far too often in today’s liberal system.

Additionally, justice worked pretty fast, for a change.

It’s the story about Jerry Moon of Stevenson Ranch. At the time of his worse-than-despicable crimes, he was 18 years old.  He committed inhumane, vile acts against a lady who was alone in her Stevenson Ranch home in the early hours of Jan. 8, 2012. Fortunately he was arrested within about one month of the event, and thanks to DNA proof as evidence.

His crimes were so horrible that his bail was never less than $2.45 million. Are you getting the picture of the ferociousness, danger and scope of this?

While any human being, and especially women, would surely be sickened by reading the exact, descriptive words of the details of the crimes, what we can read from published reports and imagine further, getting the monster named Jerry Moon off of the streets is cause to make us fire off Roman candles and celebrate.

Moon lived about one-half mile from victim Jane Doe. He broke into her private sanctuary, totally uninvited, where he bound and gagged her into a state of helplessness and proceeded to, with depravity, attack her.  She was rendered defenseless to Moon’s demented torture of rape, twisted unthinkable sex acts and God knows what else.

Jerry Moon

By April 11, 2012, Moon faced charges described as “17 felony counts, which include attempted murder, one count of first-degree burglary; two counts of attempted murder; six counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object; one count of first-degree residential robbery; three counts of forcible rape; three counts of forcible oral copulation; and one count of false imprisonment by violence.”  He pleaded not guilty. Cowards always do.

In December 2012, Moon entered into a plea deal wherein he admitted guilt. In January, Jerry Moon was back in court, telling the judge he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea . He alleged he thought if he pleaded guilty he could go home to mommy and daddy.

Trying to garner sympathy, Moon said if he had to go to prison – you know, actually pay for his crimes – “I will never see my parents and never get out to see them alive.” He added that he had been a heroin user for a few years, and he was on the drug when he committed these crimes.

And he cried.

Amazing, isn’t it?  Taking heroin is a crime, yet Moon presented that as his defense. Unfortunately we are not in a system where, with that admission of yet another crime, these creeps get 10 more years behind bars.  But I digress.

He whined that he didn’t want to go to prison, and he wanted new counsel, and wanted the judge to reconsider letting him withdraw his original admission of guilt. The judge told him he had quality counsel, clearly messaging Moon had been more than adequately represented.

Apparently Moon was stupid enough to forget that the judge clearly asks the defendant in a plea if he understands the consequences.  Courts are not known to be willy-nilly about that serious subject.

When I read the article about Moon’s protest and change of direction in January, I was sickened – sickened at the thought of such a low-life predator crying for his mommy and daddy on taxpayers’ dimes, but most of all sickened for Jane Doe, who must have been thrown back into nightmares at the thought of the system failing her and knowing that in the future to fully prosecute her attacker she would need to re-live the events of Jan. 8, 2012, and provide embarrassing testimony in a public courtroom.

Victory came this week when Moon appeared in court again and was sentenced to prison for 43 years to life.

Society can thank the wisdom and fortitude of Judge Lloyd M. Nash of the San Fernando Superior Court in denying Moon’s motion. Nash said, “In my 25 years on the bench, this is one of the most brutal and callous cases I have ever seen. … I don’t have any qualms about giving you this sentence. … What you did was beyond description.”

Moon tried to convince Nash that he just signed the papers he was given (for his guilty plea) and didn’t read them. The judge pointed out that in addition to his signature, he had also initialed in 15 places. Basically the judge asked if he was lying then or now.

Moon again cried like a spoiled, irresponsible child. The court clerk had to ask him twice to repeat statements as he was blubbering too much to memorialize the record properly.

As Jerry Moon, now 19 years old, was led off in handcuffs, he mouthed to his father that he was “sorry.”  Undoubtedly he cried some more.

Sadly, it’s a safe bet that Moon is sorry – sorry he got caught, sorry he can’t live with mommy and daddy – but not one tiny bit sorry for Jane Doe.

It will be imperative for Jerry Moon to serve the full term, for justice to have wholly and properly worked.

As for Jane Doe, more than likely she is in her own prison. I’ll bet she is sorry. I’ll bet she cried, too.

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety. Her commentary publishes Fridays.