Justice Served

The father of the young girl assaulted at the library sees her attacker in person for the first time.

by Helen i-lin Hwang

Early last week, a father's telephone rang. On the other end was a District Attorney's Office representative who was calling with some news: The 23-year-old homeless man charged in the February assault of the man's 8-year-old daughter in a library bathroom would be in court May 26. There, the suspect was expected to plead guilty to a brutal crime that made headlines and left library officials rethinking security measures.

Invited to attend the proceedings that dreary Wednesday morning, the father took a bus to the 6th Police District in Chinatown, where he met a bilingual police officer who was waiting to accompany him to the Criminal Justice Center. Though he'd worked within blocks of the CJC for years, he neither knew where it was, nor what took place inside. In that building, he'd see the man charged with attacking his daughter for the very first time.

The cop wore casual khakis and a jean jacket, so as not to draw attention to someone involved in such a high-profile case. In recent months, the cop had been fending off media types who, at times were "stalking" the girl's reeling family. (The father did, however, contact City Paper for an exclusive interview ["Shattered Lives," Helen i-lin Hwang, April 15, 2004]. CP is continuing to withhold the family's name. The police officer also asked not to be identified.)

A slight drizzle dampened their walk to the courthouse. The father, speaking Mandarin, answered questions from the officer: His daughter was doing better but still acts fa piqi -- loses her temper and gets angry easily. She's improving in school, scoring 70s instead of failing tests as she did upon her return. Still, she doesn't concentrate as well as she did before the attack.

The father seemed visibly nervous, trying to remain strong and calm despite knowing he was about to confront the stranger who hurt his child in such an unimaginable way.

When they arrived in Judge Carolyn Engel Temin's court around 9:45 a.m., the gallery was packed with distraught families of perpetrators and victims whose cases were being handled by Assistant District Attorney Deborah Harley. Almost two hours later, the judge called the last case of the session: McCutcheon's. By then, the only people remaining in the gallery were the father and the police officer, who said Temin may have intentionally heard the other cases first because of the publicity surrounding the assault.

McCutcheon, led in through a side door, wore a white T-shirt and cream-colored pants; his head was shaven. When he stood next to his public defender, Everett Gillison, he slouched. Then he pleaded guilty to eight charges including attempted murder, attempted rape, aggravated assault, corrupting a minor and indecent exposure. He had admitted that on Feb. 7, he followed the girl into a women's bathroom in the Free Library's Independence Branch near Seventh and Market and tried to rape her before choking her and leaving her unconscious next to a toilet.

"He pleaded guilty to all the leading charges," said Harley, explaining that the plea meant a simple assault charge was merged with aggravated assault. "He'll receive a minimum of five to 10 years because the victim was a child and a maximum of 50 to 100 years."

McCutcheon's guilty plea means there will be no trial, so the little girl won't have to testify. Temin revoked McCutcheon's bail, and sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 1, after the courts have time to evaluate him under Megan's Law.

Throughout the proceedings, the father remained stoic. Afterward, his eyes were bright red but there were no tears. He sniffed a little.

"I'm relieved," he offered.

He said that when he first saw McCutcheon step into the courtroom, he was welling with emotion. He said he was so livid he wanted to hit him but the police officer had cautioned him to restrain himself. The father later recalled thinking he saw McCutcheon on television news reports when he first turned himself in but he was never able to associate that TV image with the man who attacked his daughter.

"My head wasn't quite right," he explained. "I was traumatized before. Now that I see him in front of me, I recognize him."

Meanwhile, Gillison says neither he nor McCutcheon were aware the father of the child victim was in the courtroom until after the proceedings.

"There's not any time [at this hearing] to address the family," said Gillison. He noted that, although there will be an opportunity to do so at sentencing, he's not sure whether McCutcheon will speak that day. Gillison also said

McCutcheon has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but "his mental health is sufficient to know what he's done to himself and what he's done to this child."

After leaving the courtroom, the father was finally able to turn on his cell phone. The phone immediately rang. It was his little girl. She wanted to know when he would be back. He hadn't told her where he was going. The father gently comforted his daughter, telling her he'd be home soon. It seems like she still needs her daddy around to protect her.

The family is still in need for donations to help the child now and in the future. Checks and donations can be mailed to and dropped off at Asian Bank The Support Fund, 1008 Arch St., Phila., 19107.