To close a loop (something we don’t often get to do) on a story we picked up on a few weeks ago, the Assistant U.S. Attorney from northern Florida, John David R. Atchison, who was arrested in a sting in September for attempting to have sex with a 5-year old girl, has committed suicide in federal prison.
Atchison had previously tried to kill himself just days after being arrested at the Detroit airport where he had flown to a federal agent he had believed to be the little girl’s mother.
“Just gotta go slow and very easy. I’ve done it plenty,” Atchison reportedly told the “mother” before he left Florida, after the agent in the string operation had expressed concerns to Atchison about injury to the little girl.
In AP’s report on the AUSA’s death, they described him as a family man, whose attorney hopes he’ll be remembered for “a lot of good in his life”…
A statement released Friday by his lawyer, James Thomas, said Atchison had “done a lot of good in his life.”
“Unfortunately, he is going to be judged by his most recent charges and what we have read in the media, and not by the goodness, hard work or by the love of his family,” the statement read.
ED NOTE about the sub-headline, from our initial quick coverage of the arrest last month, intimating that Atchison was a Republican…
When we filed our quickie report last month, we casually tossed in the following question in our sub-header: “What is It About Florida Republicans and Sex With Children?”
Shortly after using that sub-header, we were asked how we knew that Atchison was a Republican, and realized, in fact, that we didn’t. Rather, we had made the presumption at the time based on his being an AUSA in the Bush Administration. While it seemed a fairly safe guess at the time, it was only a guess and one that we didn’t actually realize we were making, in fact, when we made it.
After the question came up, it occured to us that we didn’t know his politics for certain. While we didn’t have a lot of time (or inclination) to dig into the details of this particular story, we were able to check with a former US Attorney who told us that, in truth, it’s impossible to know the politics of an AUSA based solely on who he or she worked for.
While AUSAs are hired by incumbent USAs, we were told, they serve thereafter as career federal employees, in many cases, throughout several subsequent administrations.
To make even an educated guess about the politics of an AUSA, one would have to know who hired him or her, and even that would be a poorly educated guess if the USA hired the AUSA properly, and didn’t take politics into account as is the proper procedure for hiring.
All of that in mind, The NY Times reported, shortly after Atchison’s arrest, that he’d “worked at the small United States Attorney’s Office in Pensacola since the 1980s.” Thus, one might assume he was hired during either the Reagan or George H.W. Bush administration.
Further, they write: “His is considered one of the most conservative United States attorney’s offices in the country, known for refusing plea agreements and seeking the stiffest sentences.”
Nothing conclusive there, obviously, but certainly notable.
And finally, a commenter at dKos at the time of Atchison’s arrest (and it’s an anonymous commenter, who did not post supporting evidence or links, so take it for what it’s worth), reported being “pretty certain” that Atchison was a registered Republican…
The same commenter claimed later in the thread that his source was “Florida Division of Elections voter file as of 3/31/07 (these are public record and available for purchase).”
As mentioned, we’re not inclined in this case to go to the effort of getting at those records to confirm.
Either way, one would think, with the various coverage of such a heinous crime, and others making the same speculation (responsibly or otherwise) that we did concerning his politics, someone in the GOP would have gone out of their way to make it clear that Atchison was not a Republican by now, had that been the case. Particularly given the rash of various sex crimes by Republican officials of late.
To our knowledge, there has been no such denial issued.
So make of all of that what you will, with our note that no, we don’t know for certain that he was a Republican. Even it seems at least as certain now as it did last month when we first made our accidentally presumptuous statement that he was.
So, they moved him over to the currently R-appointed Fed system without a 24hr a day suicide watch that they had on him previously ?
If that would have been a Dem, you can be assured that he would have been paraded on Fake Noise 24/7 from now until the ’08 election.
They put him alone on purpose to end this thing quick IMO.
Too bad that conservative schmuck didn’t do himself in before he could have “done it plenty” to children. Of course, the Overwhelmingly Fascist Media hasn’t highlighted this story since it is about someone of similar fascist sentiments — “one of the most conservative United States attorney’s offices in the country.” Such perversion is usually committed by conservatives. If is had been a liberal (these kinds of perverts almost never are), the media would, indeed, have harped on it endlessly.
“A statement released Friday by his lawyer, James Thomas, said Atchison had “done a lot of good in his life.”
“Unfortunately, he is going to be judged by his most recent charges and what we have read in the media, and not by the goodness, hard work or by the love of his family,” the statement read.”
The statement above makes me ill, so what if he did a lot of ‘good’, he was going to rape a child! That trumps any good he’s done, period! Glad he killed himself and saved the state money, that was his only ‘good’ act.
Coached girls softball and basketball teams???? Don’t most pedaphiles become coaches or teachers or leaders of scout troops.
If I were the mother of any of those girls, I would be asking a lot of questions.
What other children had he raped????
These are questions worth asking and worth finding the answer to.
There is an overabundance of links to the GOP realm for that type of moral turpitude. The infection is spreading to the music world:
(Stay the course). He is a big republican donor.
The link to the GOP is because the false patina the GOP has put around itself, thru the illicit relationship with wrong-wing religionists, is that it is a “family values” party. It is a place to hyde hide.
But what they don’t tell you is that the party is in the Minnesota Airport bathroom, and “family” is the concept the mob has.
Also note that the is from Florida, and lives near Tom Feeney, who would benefit from the contributions.
I find, when the CMSM doesn’t mention the party affiliation of someone like this involved in a crime like this, it turns out to be a Republican. Just something I’ve picked up on in the “liberal media.” Or, they actually put the WRONG party, like FOX “news” with “D-Foley.”
Has it not become obvious, the GOP is only for the Gay Or Pedophile to gain in politics.
It would be a good thing for those that have never heard her speak, to listen to Kay Griggs speaks, ‘desperate housewives’ (I’ve wondered why they called it that ‘desperate,,,’)
She describes the gritty details of the how and why ‘they’ prefer those that are blackmailable either through being a “conservative” and gay, or generally a pedophile, all throughout the political system, businesses, and the military, specificly, Peter Pace is “one of those” pedophile, closeted-gay-sex types.
Yesterday, another toe-tapper repulsivican caught in the mens room.
I agree with those who clap for him killing himself… bravo… Seems to me those who refer to all the “good” he has done in his life… all the coaching of “girls teams” well DUH…. easier to get his victims…that way… and yeah… probably his own 3 daughters… someone had to know… and should come forward now to get these girls help !!!