Teen sex goes on trial in Williamson County

“My probation officer was making me do a lot more stuff than I could. It was kind of hard having this charge and getting a job, being 18 and she was telling me to move out of my house, because I can't live within 1,000 feet or 2,000 feet of a park.”

A unique and troubling legal case is unfolding in Williamson County. A young man named Jean Karlo Ponzanelli is in the county jail in Georgetown, facing a long prison term. via KXAN-TV Austin

[jan]

FREE JEAN KARLO PONZANELLI
justiceforjean.net

[Nira]

i love JEAN!!
DANTE is like a bestfriend!

[JAZMINE]

Wow! This is very shocking news! Even though I havent seen or talked to Jean or Dante in a very long time, I still have mad love for them! It takes 2 tang. I do not believe that Jean is capable of rape! Its that girls fault too! Why is Jean the only one being punished? Is it because he is MEXICAN?

Te espero lo mejor por ti y a tu familia, Jean. Siempre vas estar en mis resos.

[Bob]

The Williamson County, and the Texas legal system in general, are absolutely horrible and unjust! Too many young people are having sex way too early, but it is NOT the place of the legal system to get involved in the issue of teen sex! It starts with the parents!

[michelle]

I think this boy has been sadly done a huge injustice. He was doing what most teens do all the time. I think it's sad that he is being punoished for having sex. What has helkl froze over, or are pigs flying! There is something seriously wrong with the Williamson County justice system. Maybe enough people will draw attention to their fucked up ways that something will be done to change it. I hope and pray. It's bullshit that this young man is in jail, for having consentual sex, while cops gets a slap on the wrist for raping women and molesting small children. The Williamson County legal system sickens me.

[Nira]

yes the girl has already admitted that she lied to him about her age! i mean he is a good person. I know him personally he use to come to my house all the time. We would skateboard....we are friends...that little girl lied to him! so, what more do the cops want....i feel that its RACISM because there is big thing with MEXICANS right now...i feel it would have been different if it was a WHITE person i am not a RACIST because whats right it right and what wrong is wrong...FREE JEAN!!

[duknrose]

A seventeen year old on a thirteen year old, and you all are alright with that? Shame on you.

Nira wrote:

yes the girl has already admitted that she lied to him about her age! i mean he is a good person. I know him personally he use to come to my house all the time. We would skateboard....we are friends...that little girl lied to him! so, what more do the cops want....i feel that its RACISM because there is big thing with MEXICANS right now...i feel it would have been different if it was a WHITE person i am not a RACIST because whats right it right and what wrong is wrong...FREE JEAN!!

[Get Real Ducknrose]

TO DUCKNROSE - She wasn't a virgin maiden, okay.
The 13 year old girl was telling kids that she was 15 about to have her big 16th. She even said it in front of her mother, and her mother said NOTHING. This sure puts a new twist on it don't you think.
This is not the first older boy this girl has had put in jail. And there have been others that didn't get caught with her. This is a fact. She likes "dro" and sneaking out at night. She believes she is far more mature than most her age.
She moved into a new neighborhood, but continued at her old school so the kids didn't have any idea what grade she was in. She started hanging out with older kids and told them all the she was 15 getting ready to turn 16. ALL of the kids believed this. They had no reason to doubt her. In fact they thought nothing of it until Jean was arrested.
Unfortunately, this girl continues down the same path. She may "feel" bad momentarily, but not bad enough to keep her from repeating the behavior over and again.
This is a huge problem with myspace. There are girls on MYSPACE pretending to be far older than they are. They try to "hook up" with older boys, you know, the ones that drive. They look for boys across town, so the boy will not find out their real age.
SO Ducnrose, if you are okay with this girls behavior, and if you believe that Jean Ponzanelli deserves to have his life ruined, SHAME ON YOU.

[Red Brix]

I dated a 16 year old once, when I was 16 also... we frolicked, cartwheeled, freelanced and woolyboogered as often as we could. Looking back, I really regret driving down that dirt road to Brown Town, we were just too young, our whole life ahead of us.

This has nothing to do with much of anything... but neither does passing judgement on either one of these kids. It's your fault for not occupying every single minute of their useless existence with more quality XBOX360 games and HGH laden dairy products.

[Nira]

duknrose wrote:

A seventeen year old on a thirteen year old, and you all are alright with that? Shame on you.
<quoted text>

SHAME on you!! i outta punch you in the face...alright with that? of course NOT!! that is wrong but JEAN is innocent that little 13 yr old girl lied about her age! she LIED get that through your FREAKINg head! you low life....you don't know nothing do NOT be talking crap if you do NOT know the whole story!

[TexGurl]

What convent/monastary did this ducknrose just come from? This is somebody who lives under the round rock. Obviously no clue about what is happening in the world of these teenages. Clueless Ducknrose acts like the boy took advantage of a poor little innocent girl.

Ducknrose, you have a computer. Research. see what some of these girls are up to. Here's a good article to start with Ducknrose, Brace Yourself!
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll...

[Jan]

Please see read the petition for Jean. If you believe it is the right thing to do, please sign it and pass it along to everyone you know.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fightforje...

[jenni]

Don't be so mean to us teens. I am 14, go to middle school here and have seen classmates do stuff before the teacher comes in class. But they like each other and most teachers don't care anyways unless parents get angry.

[jenni]

And if Hollywood stars can do it, we can also. Even Bill Clinton did stuff right in the White House.

[tink]

we imprison a young man for rape > with a supposed year old who posed as an older person... and yet we send young girls back to be raped in a polygamist cult -- overstepping our legal boundaries by removing them from a dangerous to their health and mental well being situation. This world is mad

[Nira]

jenni wrote:

Don't be so mean to us teens. I am 14, go to middle school here and have seen classmates do stuff before the teacher comes in class. But they like each other and most teachers don't care anyways unless parents get angry.

you are 14 probALY slept with a dozen guys. you parents don't care...about you...obviously...what more can i see..kid get off topix and get an education it's better for you...if you want to send INNOCENT men to jail well then GOD will be watching you!

[A Mom]

Bottom line here is this boy should not be in jail. There is no comparison to what this boy did a child molester, yet the law is not differentiating between the two. Nor is consensual sex the same is rape, so why is this boy being treated as a pedophile or a rapist? We must place pressure on our lawmakers to reform this law. The lawmakers should also make the law retroactive and right the wrongs done to teenagers under this law. It amazes me that basically intelligent people do not know the difference. It is an insult to victims of true sexual abuse to compare them to this girl who wanted to have sex with this boy. True sexual abuse victims are violated. This girl was not violated.

[How can this happen]

I know a man who meet a college freshman on an Adult "Bootycall" website.This girl was 5'6 180lbs and had an ad stating that she was "ready to play".She invited him over and they had a brief encounter.He went about his life and thought nothing of it.Five months later she calls him up and tells him that she is underage!He is devistated tolearnfor he had believed that she was in college.Later that night a Police investigator calls him up tells him asks him to go see him to clear up some questions.It seems that the girl had first claimed that my friend had represented himself to be an underage person as well. Howeverthrough more investigating the investigator and the girls mother learned the truth about how she had lied to my friend and them as well.The parents upon learning of the deception andthe ad stated that they did not want charges to be pressed.The investigator also stated that he did not want the case to go forward but that the District attourney and him did not see eyetoeye on the matter.The investigator held the case open for 8 weeks before finally being forced to press charges.My friend was arrested and charged with Sexual assault of a child(even though believed her to be 18)In the mean time my friend was forced into a living nightmare.He had to sell all his worldly possessions,thousands of dollars worth of stuff that had taken years to aquire to post his bail of $2500, then $15000 for a high pricedlawyer,then $850 for a polygraph test (which he passed stating that the girl had never given an age other than 18 and that he had believed her to be of legal age)Then he was forced into a pre-trial monitoring program where he was fitted with an ankle device.He's not able to do anything or go anywhere other than to work and back without prior permission. He was forced to leave his job.The prosecutor for the case told his lawyer that he had "agonized" over the case and that the best offer he could make was plead to a lesser charge of Indecency to a child by exposure,(a class C felony) 5 years defered adjudication,probation, a fine of $2,500, 30 days in jail, and 15 years on the Sex offenders list. My friend scoffed at the offer and insisted that
a jury would be sympathetic to his plight.But his lawyer said that even though a jury would believe him,they would still be bound legally to find him guilty because the law is a "strict liability" law and says that it doesn't matter if you were decieved or entrapped.So my friend had no choice but to accept the deal offered by the prosecutor.A deal to which he had to lie under oath to confess to "knowningly"A deal that leaves only years of heartach and pain for him and his family,years of hardship,condimnation by people who don't know the truth,years of being a pariah and social outcast in the city he has called home for over 12 years.There is still alot of pain and darkness in his future.He may still lose his home.I ask you.Is this justice?Admittidly he shouldn't have been on an "Bootycall" website in the first place.He committed a moral sin to be sure and he has confessed to the lord and his family and asked forgiveness.He knowningly broke a commandment and has sought redemption through the lord and his church.He was re-baptized in his church in May.But does he deserve to have the rest of his life destroyed for doing something he believed was legal.to be branded a child molester when the "child" in question told falsehoods and decieved him into unknowingly committing a crime?How can this happen?Why is this allowed? Why is the law so one sided?Who are we protecting?Who is the real victim here?I'm not saying that the girl isn't a victimshe has a right to be able to make stupid mistakesandshe will have to live with the knowledge that her actions caused a mans life to be distroyed.but why isn't there a mechanism to protect those who fall into traps set by stupid girls?I think that the pendulum has swung way to far in one direction.

[Nira]

omg i am soo sorry to hear the hell he went through..this is just like jeans case.

[Jen]

what?