Knox judge faces massive backlash over sentencing in former pastor's rape conviction [View all]

A petition calling for Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword's removal from the bench has garnered more than 14,000 signatures in a backlash over his perceived leniency in the sentencing of a former pastor convicted of rape.

Social media outrage over the case has spread around the country.

Sword handed down an effective sentence of 12 years in prison last week for David Lynn Richards Jr., who was convicted by a Knox County jury in February on nine felony counts including rape, incest and sexual battery by authority figure for the repeated abuse of his adopted teenage daughter over nearly two years.

Richards, 41, will spend at least 9 years behind bars before he becomes eligible for parole.

Read more: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2019/05/18/knox-judge-steve-sword-criticism-david-lynn-richards/3706527002/