University of Tennesse Pays Violent Rapist, Daniel Hood, to Attend College
May 07, 2009
The University of Tennessee's school colors are orange. How appropriate, given that they've give an athlete scholarship to the star of a real-life Clockwork Orange:
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee has signed a prep football star who at the age of 13 was found by a juvenile court to have helped rape a relative.
Daniel Hood, a 19-year-old defensive end/tight end at Knoxville Catholic, signed a scholarship offer on Tuesday and will join coach Lane Kiffin's first recruiting class in the fall.
"We didn't go about this lightly," Kiffin said in a statement. "We spent a lot of time researching the issue and talking to a lot of people who are well respected in the community. Everyone spoke very highly of Daniel. He's a very bright young man who wants to move past this incident and be a good representative for the team, the university and the community."
Hey, he was only 13, right? The kid has "move[d] past this incident." We should cut kids some slack. No doubt. What, incidentally, did the "incident" involve?
According to court records, Hood and another teenager were charged in 2003 with assaulting a 14-year-old girl. The victim's legs and wrists were tied and her eyes and mouth were covered with duct tape before she was raped at the Sullivan County home of Hood's father.
How do you "move past" pure evil? How do you "move past" sociopathy?
This isn't a gray area rape case. It's not like there was a breakdown in communication. Or that he was just a spazzy teen who went too far because he didn't understand that no-means-no. He tied the girl up and put tape over her mouth. Pure evil.
Someone who does that is pure evil. Such a person cannot be reformed. Of course, sociopaths like Hood are good manipulators. I've met many charming criminals. Even prison psychologists have been duped by psychopaths.
Christians speak of redemption; atheists speak of reform. I speak of naivety.
I'm not duped. I know that a person who ties someone up, tapes her mouth, and rapes her has no soul. They can smile at me, but I won't smile back.