A Superior Court judge who sentenced a wealthy du Pont heir to probation for raping his 3-year-old daughter noted in her order that he “will not fare well” in prison and needed treatment instead of time behind bars, court records show.

Judge Jan Jurden’s sentencing order for Robert H. Richards IV suggested that she considered unique circumstances when deciding his punishment for fourth-degree rape. Her observation that prison life would adversely affect Richards was a rare and puzzling rationale, several criminal justice authorities in Delaware said. Some also said her view that treatment was a better idea than prison is a justification typically used when sentencing drug addicts, not child rapists.

Richards is 6’4″ and over 250 pounds. He is a scion of the du Pont family. He is not ill or suffering from any ailments. He is unemployed, living on his family’s wealth. He owns two homes, one for which he paid $1.8 million in 2005. He’s doing quite well outside of prison.

He raped a little girl. And according to filings in his divorce, he admits to sexually abusing his infant son. Judge Jurden gave him 8 years in prison, then suspended the entire sentence with probation, and ordered him to get treatment. The entire 2009 case never made any news media until Richards’ wife filed a civil case against him this year.

O’Neill said the way the Richards case was handled might cause the public to be skeptical about “how a person with great wealth may be treated by the system.”

It’s just more evidence that there is one system of justice for the rich and connected, and another for everyone else — which is deeply un-American.