Former Catawba County Superior Court Judge Daniel Ray Green pleaded guilty to several charges on Monday for sexually assaulting a 14 year old boy on March 30, 2019 at the Baymont Inn on Hendersonville Road in Asheville. Those charges (with sentences) were Indecent Liberties with a Minor (20-33 month active sentence), Contributing to The Delinquency of a Minor (45 days active, consecutive), Providing Wine/Liquor/Malt Beverage to a Person under 21 (45 days active, consecutive), and Disseminating Obscene Material to a Minor (6-8 months suspended for 36 months). He was sentenced to a total of two years in state prison followed by three years of supervised released and he must register as a sex offender for 30 years.
The Buncombe County District Attorney's Office (BCDA) described Green's crimes in a press release (see PDF link above may) as follows:
"The investigation showed that on the date of the offense Green plied the victim with alcohol and showed him pornography. Green demanded that the victim perform oral sex on him but he did not. Green then positioned the victim on the bed and rubbed his penis on the body of the victim until he ejaculated on him. DNA recovered from the crime scene was tested and confirmed the presence of Green's DNA. The victim escaped by pretending that he needed ice from the machine outside the hotel room. Once outside he texted a close friend and called his mother, who then called police."
While we applaud the BCDA for obtaining a conviction in this case, we are extremely disappointed with the sentence. Judge Green is clearly a sexual predator who didn't get caught until he was in his 60s. Usually people like him have many more victims. Being able to obtain a position of trust in the community is typically evidence of a more evolved predator whose position makes him an even bigger predator. We hope that there are no more victims, but if there are we hope they come forward so that this guy never gets out of prison.
BCDA Todd Williams said, "The outcome of this case demonstrates that Judge Daniel Ray Green was not protected by his privilege." We disagree, we think that he got a slap on the wrist because of his privilege. Many people without his privilege are serving far greater sentences for far less serious conduct. Two years is the same amount of time that the founder of Cop Blaster received for sending a threatening email to someone while drunk who had been stalking and harassing him in 2012. While serving his time he met many people that were serving decades long sentences for drugs and other relatively minor things. His first cellmate was serving a three year sentence for re-entering the country illegally after being deported (https://copblaster.com/blast/82/officer-christopher-myers-wrongfully-stopped-and-shot-my-cellmate). What does it say about the system when crossing an imaginary line on a map is treated more seriously than molesting a child?
BCDA responded to our criticism of the sentence on Twitter (https://twitter.com/BuncombeCoDA/status/1428356313050869764) by saying, "Green was sentenced to the maximum under NC law." To their credit they did say in their press release that his sentence was the maximum. Apparently their options were limited because Green did not penetrate the boy. Still, we do not think that makes the system any less deserving of criticism. It seems the state of the law in North Carolina is drastically draconian as far as protecting children from sexual predators is concerned.
According to public records, Daniel Ray Green is a 67 year old resident of Hickory, North Carolina last known to reside at 5195 Lake Park Drive. He is a registered Democrat. His only prior run-ins with the law were traffic violations. We are exempting his address from our usual courtesy of censoring home addresses of judges because Judge Green is a convicted sex offender, his sex crimes involved a minor, were predatory, he owns the property, and his sentence is so light he is likely to still have that home when he gets out. We are simply posting his address before the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry does for the same reasons they will. We want parents to be warned.