By Donna Westfall – June 6, 2017 – Take one pissed off teenager who’s angry at her father, add in that she’s in love or lust with her 40 something year old boyfriend, add generous amounts of lies, stir in bad acting and attempted blackmail and you have all the ingredients for a case so bizarre as to make your muscles twitch.
On Friday, July 7th, I’ll be talking with Paul Critz at KFUG radio about the Ranger verdict. Tune in. It starts at 11 am. 
Josiah Miller, a convicted murderer is actually now only convicted of a lesser manslaughter charge and the arson charges dropped. It’s still murder in the eyes of the law. Yet, he’ll be out in early 2020, or sooner. There was evidence in that case. Hard physical evidence. When he’s out in 2020, he won’t have to register as an arsonist so we’ll at least know if he moves in next door.
Now, here we have a man, Bryan Ranger, convicted by a Jury presented really only with circumstantial hearsay type evidence, with not a shred of physical evidence and he’s facing life in prison. If he ever got out, which is unlikely, he’d have to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life and people will never know that there was indeed some weirdness going on in this case from the very start, especially the fact he spent more than 4 years in county jail awaiting trial. Thanks to this website and the voices of some of the people in Del Norte County brave enough to question this, stand up and speak up about the matter, it is now public knowledge and the man finally went to trial as he deserved. Was it fair? Sure doesn’t seem like it.
Now that Mr. Nash, the 40+ year old that had sex with Mercy Ranger when she was 14-16 years old, has been spotlighted in a criminal trial, why don’t we look into why Mr. Nash is not being charged with at least Statutory Rape of the alleged victim? They got another man on hearsay, so why not Mr. Nash? Huh? Come on now, let’s hear it.
Some of the readers “get it”. Some just don’t understand.
To Linda Sutter, I’d like your opinion: Do you think Mr. Nash should be charged with sex crime charges for the acts alleged in the criminal trial? If not, why not? Also, why do you think Brian Ranger was charged but not Mr. Nash? The reason I am asking you is because I get the feeling that if someone is accused of a sex crime, you absolutely feel they should be punished, no trial is even necessary and painful death is a better option than life in prison for these “perverts.”
To the other readers, I’d like to get your thoughts on why Mr. Nash hasn’t been charged or even investigated. Sgt. Ed Fleshman is the sex crimes investigator up there now, even though he really should not be in my personal opinion as it is in direct conflict with his role as a sex offender registering officer. (Imagine the position you have as a registering officer to violate someone you know their victims’ side of the story only.)
We know that there is someone not in jail who’s been accused of sex crimes against a minor. If this is not being investigated, I really want to know why. The system is broken but it can be fixed. Perhaps another demonstration in front of the courthouse and the sheriff’s office ought to do the trick. After all, we don’t want a 40+ year old man preying on a minor child and not get at least investigated, do we?
Nicholas the short answer to your question regarding Nash is yes. But, I’m not an attorney nor do I specialize in criminal justice….The Brian Ranger case was handled well by all people involved in the case.
Mercy Ranger was exposed to sex crimes from an early age of 5 years old by her father. He was prepping her for some 50 year old man when she became age. It is not surprising that she would believe it was normal to have sex with a 40 year old man. Especially one who groomed her with gifts and attention.
What I find disgusting is the fact that Bryan Ranger who is sooo narcissistic due to HIS own version of the BIBLE, WOULD put his children in front of him, on the stand, in hopes that his mere presence would influence them to say he was an innocent man. The only person who failed his intimidation tactics was Mercy’s 17 year old brother. What was revealed by Dr. Urquiza recanting the story was characteristic of someone who had been abused sexually and otherwise. And the 17 yr old brother even admitted that he had performed sex with one of his sisters. One of the things I observed while hiim was on the stand was his inability to complete his sentences, his thought process was completely inhibited, resulting in almost a stuttering. I observed his testimony first and then saw a visual tape of him getting interviewed by Ed Fleshmen. He was calm, in a safe environment, and spoke well. During that interview you could clearly see he was telling the truth. So, when you compare the two differences in his behavior you could see he was not himself on the stand, he was vying for acceptance by his biological father who is a rapist, a child molester, and needs to be place with a life sentence for the permanent damage that was inflicted on each family member. In my own opinion Judy Ranger should be locked up as well for not protecting her children and condoning his disgusting behavior.
Linda, thanks for your response. Unfortunately, without seeing the interview myself, I cannot simply go on your interpretation. Please don’t take that personally and I hope you understand. If the prosecutor(s) are fair in this, they would apply the law equally. They do not. That in itself is telling. It feels like even if Brian was not guilty, people had it out for him. Actually come to think of it, that’s pretty much how it went down. He was in fact, considered by way too many, guilty until proven innocent. Four years in the jail without a trial goes far beyond what normally happens when a person waives a right to a speedy trial. There are benefits, usually to signing that. But four years? That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that in Del Norte County, especially when hardened, violent career criminals get out on a regular basis.
Aside from any personal feelings of Mr Ranger himself, looking purely at custodial issues, legal framework, timelines, potential conflicts of interest, potential tainting of jury pools, this case has far too many red flags for me to be comfortable with it.
I have seen many of these kind of cases, but this one by far has to be the craziest one yet, and I’m not talking about the allegations. I’m talking about how it was handled and who exactly was involved. Who was involved matters. How it was handled matters.
People wanted Brian charged and convicted. They got what they wanted. They made good on their promise. So the question is who are “They” and who’s next?
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