Time for prosecutors to stop prosecuting Tilton case

If I were the District Attorney of Strafford County I’d have four words for my lieutenants regarding the sex assault case against octogenarian James Tilton of Rochester, who is now on oxygen, in a wheelchair and in rehab at a New Hampshire rehabilitation facility.

Make it go away.

Let’s first make this understood: Police say no one was hurt in the incident that occurred last September in which Tilton, 87, is alleged to have grabbed a Meals on Wheels volunteer around the waist, thrust his pelvis at her several times and licked her neck.

Tilton’s defense lawyer, Stuart Dedopoulos of Durham, said he fears Tilton suffers from dementia, a fact backed up by an interview Tilton had with The Lebanon Voice about a week after the incident.

In that interview Tilton said he did not remember the alleged incident and would not recognize the 65-year-old Meals on Wheels volunteer if he saw her.

Tilton is now in very fragile health, Dedopoulos told The Lebanon Voice last week.

Dedopoulos said he doesn’t know when his client will be released from the facility or if he will be able to return to the Rochester home on Second Street he’s lived in for decades. Tilton's wife died several years ago.

While there is absolutely no excuse for any sexual assault, the delivery of justice is also expected to be tempered by common sense, wisdom and mercy.

The district attorney’s office should end active prosecution of this case immediately and do what it takes to end this charade. Dismiss it without a finding. If he stays out of trouble for a year, he's in the clear. How much harm can he do, anyways?

We realize every case must be prosecuted and prosecutors can’t be allowed to pick and choose what’s important.

But at the same time, there must me more important cases to spend our energy and resources on.

- HT