Several area attorneys, including three women, are speaking out in support of a judge who’s under attack for granting lightened sentences to three men for the rape of an intoxicated 13-year-old girl.

“Judges make thousands of decisions over the course of their career. Every decision, in every case, has the potential to make some party very angry,” attorney Kay Huff said. “And the idea that someone angry with a decision would try to hijack the whole system, that is upsetting to me.”

A watchdog group that includes the victim’s mother is asking voters to kick District Court Judge Paula Martin off the bench Nov. 2 when she appears on the ballot for retention. The attorneys who support Martin say their main concern is that people are criticizing her without knowing all the facts of the case or of criminal law.

Criminal-defense attorney Jessica Kunen said, “Everybody needs to calm down,” adding that the factors Martin considered during the rape sentences were required by law.

Interest in forming

Ethical rules prevent Martin from responding to her critics about specific cases, but she can legally form a committee in her defense. Her friends say there’s a good chance of that happening, but they say it’s too early to talk about specifics.

“There’s certainly interest in forming a group,” said attorney Dan Watkins, who has known Martin for about 30 years. “We’re looking at the rules and talking to people who are interested in making sure the whole story and an accurate picture of Judge Martin is presented.”

The rapes in question happened in June 2003 after a night of drinking at a central Lawrence apartment.

The presumed penalty for rape — whether it’s a physically forced rape or, as in this case, unforced sex with a child under 14 — is a minimum of 13 years.

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But in these cases, the three defendants’ attorneys filed motions asking Martin to depart from sentencing guidelines, claiming there were “substantial and compelling reasons” to do so.

Martin agreed. For two 19-year-old defendants convicted of rape, she granted 60 days of “shock time” in jail, probation and community service. She gave a similar sentence to a 28-year-old who entered a plea to aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

Decision met law’s letter

Kunen said many people didn’t understand that the factors Martin relied on to make her decision — such as a finding that the girl was an “active participant” and wasn’t harmed as much as some rape victims — were details she was required to consider under law.

“It wasn’t something the judge was saying to be mean to the girl,” Kunen said. “That is the language of the statute.”

Another factor many people don’t realize, defense attorney John Frydman said, is that Kansas rape law doesn’t make any distinction between a rape by a stranger at gunpoint and unforced sex between an 18-year-old and 13-year-old. All are level-one felonies, but Frydman said there should be different severity levels that reflect the different kinds of rapes.

“My main argument is that it was correct for the judge not to treat these boys as violent sex offenders in a typical rape,” he said. “The judge was right to depart. I think the more correct question is not whether she should have departed or not, but whether the level of departure was correct.”

Attorney Angela Stoller also chimed in, saying she’s always known Martin to be “pro-family” and “pro-child.”

The victim’s mother, who’s helping organize the anti-Martin campaign, said she expected there would be a group formed to support the judge.

“We are not out for blood or to conduct a witch hunt,” she said. “We feel our points of view are very justifiable.”