Hazy Justice

As Robert Weis, a Hampton Bays resident and former Suffolk County Correction officer, was sentenced to serve only five years in prison last week for the horrific years-long pattern of rape and sexual abuse of two teenage boys — at least the two who have come forward — one of the victims characterized Suffolk County Court Justice Mark D. Cohen as a “coward.”

While the judge was bound by a plea deal, most likely intended to save Mr. Weis’s victims from having to testify in open court, he did offer that he felt the sentence was “just.” The victims, as well as the assistant district attorney, who had asked for a harsher sentence, disagreed.

Justice, in this case, feels murky, at best.

The terrors that Mr. Weis imposed on his victims, the decades of manipulations, psychological dread and physical suffering, can only be described as evil — and that called for a more severe punishment than a mere handful of years he will spend in prison.

The victims may find some measure of solace, however, in that Mr. Weis will also have to spend an additional five years under supervised release, and that he will also be forced to register as a sex offender. Permanently.

Thanks to the victims who came forward, years after the abuse, Mr. Weis’s secret life has been exposed for all to see. Hopefully, his days of abusing young boys are over, as he faces a lifetime of scrutiny by the justice system and the community as a whole.

By coming forward, his victims — Michael Neary and William Barrett, who both asked to be identified by name in press reports so that they could be both a resource for and an example to other victims, who are most likely out there — have taken a giant leap forward to put the past behind them and build futures for themselves and their families

They should be celebrated for their courage in standing up publicly to renounce the evil they endured, and to ensure that Mr. Weis faces some measure of justice, albeit far from a full measure.