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| Inmate Gets New Sentence After Castration Rejected |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/19/2003 |
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A Florida judge has added almost six years to a child molester's prison sentence because an appellate court ruled his penalty cannot include voluntary castration. Paul J. Bruno was resentenced Tuesday to 21 years and four months instead of 15 years and eight months. The 35-year-old Fort Walton Beach man had pleaded no contest three years ago to four counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts against a child. A fifth count had been dropped because he agreed to undergo castration. The 1st District Court of Appeal in February declared the sentence illegal because there is no law permitting castration for a lewd and lascivious act. Bruno was accused of fondling a girl over a two-year period starting when she was 6 years old. Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron set aside the initial sentence after Bruno argued his lawyers misled him into thinking he would serve no more than nine or 10 years if he pleaded no contest. 'I just didn't want to go to prison for something that didn't happen,' Bruno said, adding that he was looking for as little prison time as possible. Bruno also claimed his lawyers told him he would be convicted if he went to trial. The lawyers Rob Collins, an assistant public defender, and George Dewrell denied his allegations. Barron said he had believed the castration sentence never could be enforced but had allowed it because Bruno asked for it. |
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