Judge Likens Molestation Victim to ‘Tart’ : Courts: Prosecutor and girl’s father criticize remarks passed during sentencing of the 68-year-old offender to a six-year term.

Before sentencing a 68-year-old man to prison for molesting a 12-year-old girl, a Superior Court judge Thursday startled the courtroom when he said the victim had acted like “a tart.”

Judge Luis A. Cardenas said a transcript of an interview between the Seal Beach girl, who recently turned 13, and a social worker indicated that the victim was sexually sophisticated. But the judge sentenced Robert Stanfield to six years in prison, stating that the defendant still should have said “no” to any sexual invitation from the girl.

“Society imposes a bigger burden on you,” Cardenas said, even if “she was acting like a tart.”

Cardenas’ remark drew criticism from a county prosecutor and the girl’s father.

“I am frankly offended a judge in open courtroom would refer to a victim of child molestation as a tart,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane Shade said.

The victim’s father said that whatever his daughter might have done was in response to suggestions by Stanfield. “She’s very emotionally upset and still very much bothered by the thought he’s still going to get her,” the father said.

The girl, whose name is being withheld because she is a juvenile, suffers from severe depression and was placed in a psychiatric facility on her birthday, her father said.

In a telephone interview after the sentencing, Cardenas, 48, said the case was a tough one for him because the prosecutor portrayed the girl as a victim while the defense lawyer presented the girl’s statements to argue that she was partly responsible for what happened.

“The information I received indicated she could be classified as a harlot,” said Cardenas, who has been a Superior Court judge for 11 years. “I just wanted everyone out there to know I’ve heard both sides of the story.”

Cardenas said he did not blame the parents for being upset about his remark, but the information in the transcript showed “they shouldn’t be looking at me. They should be looking at their parenting.”

Stanfield’s lawyer, Brooks Talley, said Cardenas’ comment was proper because it pointed out that the victim was not an innocent. “This is not a case of a man preying on someone who has had no prior sexual experience,” Talley said.

The girl’s father said that despite the judge’s remarks he was pleased that Stanfield was given six years in prison--double the sentence that Cardenas had previously said he would mete out.

On Thursday, Stanfield was taken into custody and began serving his term at the Costa Mesa Police Department jail. Stanfield asked to serve his time in Costa Mesa instead of state prison so he could be closer to his family. He pleaded no contest to 12 felony counts of molestation and had been free on $10,000 bail. Under state law, Stanfield must serve at least four years of the six-year sentence.

Stanfield owned a nutrition store in Seal Beach and was a Sunday school teacher there. He has also helped with chapel services for the Los Angeles Lakers before their games, according to family members.

Authorities charged that he met the girl’s parents last year, learned that the couple was going away for a weekend in December and offered to have his 20-year-old daughter look after the 12-year-old, police said.

But after picking the girl up at her home in Seal Beach, Stanfield took her to dinner and bought her a pair of panties at a clothing store, police said. He then rented two pornographic videotapes, took her to a motel near his house in Long Beach and molested her during the night and the next evening at a drive-in movie theater, authorities said. He took her to see a Christmas play at the Crystal Cathedral before taking her back to his house, police said.

The girl told a school counselor she had been molested and detectives began investigating the case in December. Stanfield waived his rights to be tried by jury and pleaded no contest to the charges in June.

It was during that session last month that the girl’s parents and the detective in charge of the case, Charles Castagna, made emotional requests that Stanfield be sentenced to six years in prison. By then, the teen would be older and better able to deal with the molestation, they said.

Their appeals influenced Cardenas, who then offered Stanfield the choice of a six-year sentence or having the case heard by a jury. The maximum sentence Stanfield could have received was 28 years and eight months, according to prosecutor Shade.

Cardenas said he had considered a three-year sentence because Stanfield had never been in trouble with the law.

Castagna, the detective, said he was also shocked by the judge referring to the victim as “a tart” and he called the judge on Friday to discuss the matter.

“I felt better after speaking with the judge,” Castagna said. The girl’s statements presented to Cardenas by Stanfield’s lawyer were taken out of context and might have given the judge a wrong impression, he said.