Judge Cashman Controversy: Parents Speak Out

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," January 17, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Unresolved Problem" segment tonight, Judge Edward Cashman is still sitting on the bench in Vermont. As you may know, he recently sentenced 34-year-old Mark Hulett to just 60 days in prison after Hulett confessed to raping a 6-year-old Vermont girl over a four-year period.

Another man, Derek Kimball, a friend of Hulett's, has also been charged in the case. His trial is not yet set.

Now, we're looking for a hero in Vermont, a person who will lead a movement to right this incredible wrong. So far that hero has not appeared. Governor Jim Douglas continues to avoid us. But Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell says he will appear on “The Factor” tomorrow. Maybe the A.G. will step up and do something. But right now Judge Cashman isn't being challenged.

Thousands of "Factor" viewers and listeners feel the same way I do. This cannot happen in America. You cannot rape a 6-year-old girl and get two months in prison. Can't happen. Even if your punishment is more severe if you violate sentencing terms. In the USA, the punishment must fit the crime. We all know that. And this is one of the worst examples of non- justice we have ever seen.

“The Factor” is up in Vermont right now investigating a variety of things associated with this case. Today we did finally obtain reaction from the little girl's parents. She's now a ward of the state. She's attending school, but obviously the little girl is in terrible shape.

We are protecting the child and her parents. Thus, you will only hear audio [of our interview]. The child's mother and her stepfather are angry about the light sentence:

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

FATHER: We're not happy. That is too short. And he needs to be there a little longer. If that means eight years, whatever.

MOTHER: Lifetime.

FATHER: Lifetime. And...

MOTHER: Anything longer than eight years.

FATHER: Since she is 6 now, until she is 10 she's going through hell. They took her away from us. Blamed us for all this, too. She went through hell for four years, four years every Sunday.

MOTHER: If I have to walk into my own house and feel like I'm in jail, then he should be behind bars and know how it feels. Because it happened in my house.

FATHER: I forgive him, but I don't forget what he did. He put us through hell, too. The judge needs to — if he's not going to do this, he's going to slap us in the face. That's a slap in the face. By letting him go...

MOTHER: He's not slapping us in the face, he's slapping (name deleted) in the face.

JESSE WATTERS, "FACTOR" PRODUCER: Where is she now? Where did they take her to?

MOTHER: She's in state's custody.

FATHER: To her grandmother's.

MOTHER: She's in family state custody.

FATHER: They blamed us for the whole deal, saying...

MOTHER: The day after Mark got arrested, the week later they took her away from us.

FATHER: Right now she don't blame us and that's good, but I don't know when we have that group meeting if she's going to blame either one of us, because she bit her once a week or two ago.

MOTHER: She was lashing out is what she's doing. She is not my little girl anymore. I look at her and I don't even know who she is anymore.

WATTERS: You know Bill O'Reilly wants Cashman to get off the bench and there's been a lot of people saying that Cashman should resign. Do you guys agree?

MOTHER: I do to an extent. I mean, he should've done more justice to Mark. He asked the state why they weren't asking for a life sentence for this man. And I think the reason why Mark did not get life in prison is because the state was not asking for life. They were only asking for eight to 20 years. It's not fair for Mark to go back out on those streets and do it to another little girl...

FATHER: ...and rape another kid.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

Joining us now from Burlington, Vermont, "Factor" producer Jesse Watters.

They knew this Hulett. He was — what was Hulett's association with the mother and stepfather?

WATTERS: Well, Hulett was friends with the mother since high school. And they had known each other for a very long time. They actually referred to him as Uncle Mark.

Apparently, he was in the delivery room while she gave birth to her daughter and would take the daughter to school, pick her up from school. He'd sleep over one or two nights a week. So they had a very, very close relationship, which makes it even more devastating for the family.

O'REILLY: And what about this other guy, Hulett's friend, who's now going to be charged with the same thing, raping the little girl? Did Hulett bring him in? Or how did he get into the situation?

WATTERS: From what we understand, the other guy, Derek Kimball, was the first person to molest this little girl.

And from what I understand, I talked to the girlfriend of Derek Kimball today. Now Derek Kimball is in prison right now awaiting a hearing. And he said he is furious at Mark Hulett, and Mark Hulett actually is serving time in the same prison as Derek Kimball. And when Mark Hulett came to start serving his 60-day sentence, he actually got into a fight with Derek Kimball. And he had to put Mark Hulett in isolation. So...

O'REILLY: What were they fighting about? I mean, you got two guys molesting the same girl. They obviously knew they were doing it, raping the same girl.

WATTERS: From what I understand from what the ex-girlfriend told me, she said that Mark Hulett was blaming Derek Kimball for all the problems that had happened. He said, "Oh, you made me do this. You started this. You got me into this. It was your fault. You did everything."

O'REILLY: Sure.

WATTERS: And they had to isolate them.

O'REILLY: OK, you went to the little girl — obviously went to the little girl's hometown. What's the reaction in the hometown?

WATTERS: I was surprised by the reaction. You know, a lot of people are really uninformed about the whole story.

O'REILLY: Really?

WATTERS: Almost half the people I spoke to didn't really know a lot of the details about the case. I would have to say if, I had to quantify, it would be about 70-30 people want the judge removed. And actually, people, you know, really are afraid that you're going to boycott — or we're going to lead this boycott of Vermont. They're saying, you know, Vermont has good people here. It's just the judicial system that's screwed up.

O'REILLY: Yes, but the people haven't risen up, have they?

WATTERS: No. No one has really risen up. I only talked to one person today who was so shocked when he heard the sentence, he asked me for my business card. And he said he wanted to lead a rally and start a petition. But everybody seems to be really apathetic about it, and I was really surprised.

O'REILLY: I mean, that's what's stunning me. And the media in Vermont is actually, except for the Burlington paper, sticking up for the judge.

WATTERS: Yes. A lot of people are blaming the media for sensationalizing it and stuff like that. It is kind of a college town. They consider themselves to be progressive. So they think they have maybe a more enlightened view of punishment.

I talked to a lot of people today. They thought maybe punishment wasn't a good idea. They blamed America's repressed sexuality on some of these things that were happening.

O'REILLY: I mean, right. That's the far left loons. One more question. You actually talked to Hulett's father today, correct?

WATTERS: Yes, I talked to Hulett's father. You know, he's a very — he's a very old man. He's very upset with what his son did. He said his son is very sad about what he did. He's communicating with his son in prison. You know, I don't really — I don't really know what to say about the father.

O'REILLY: Yes, we don't want to browbeat the parents of the rapist. I mean, that's not right. It's the judge that's the focus of our investigation. Nice job, Jesse. We appreciate it.

Jesse is going to continue investigating up in Vermont. And tomorrow, as I said, we will have the attorney general of the state here. And we're hoping for a hero. We need a hero in Vermont.

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