WebProNews

Tag: rape sentence

  • One Month Rape Sentence Overturned By Montana Court

    A Montana teacher who was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl, recently had his one month sentence overturned.

    A judge had originally said that the victim was just as responsible for the sexual acts as the 40-year-old teacher and felt the one month sentence was sufficient punishment.

    Judge G. Todd Baugh’s sentence angered many people and even led to protests that demanded he resign.

    The Montana Supreme Court overturned the sentence and will resentence teacher Stacey Dean Rambold. Rambold served his original 30 day sentence and has since been released.

    The overturned sentence may have taken longer than it should have, but many people involved with the case are confident that justice will finally be served.

    “Adolescent victims are consistently blamed for either seducing their rapist or for some other behaviors. Members of the public have stepped up to protest in previous cases, such as the teen rapes in Steubenville, Ohio, and “to educate their own community and beyond about the importance of not victim-blaming,” said Jennifer Long, director of AEquitas: The Prosecutors’ Resource on Violence Against Women, in Washington. “but it seems that we are still stuck in this cycle … where [some of] the very people who should know this information – judges, prosecutors, and other professionals – still believe in the myths and still engage in very dangerous practices.”

    Judge Baugh was also happy with the decision to resentence Rambold and admitted that he may have made a mistake in being so lenient with him during his trial. He had even tried to set a hearing to resentence him himself last year, but was unable to do so.

    The Judicial Standards Commission has a pending disciplinary complaint against Baugh, and he will likely receive disciplinary action for his incorrect sentencing and inappropriate comments about the case.

    Victim Cherice Morales was only 14 when she was sexually assaulted by Rambold. When Cherice was 16 and the case was still pending, she killed herself.

    What do you think of the original sentence term?

    Image via YouTube

  • Montana Judge: Previous Gaffes Call for Dismissal

    The Montana Judge of Yellowstone County, G. Todd Baugh, that is currently under fire for assigning a 30-day sentence for a teacher who raped a student, leading to her suicide, apparently has a track record. His reasoning for the mild punishment is reported to be 1) The girl looked older than her chronological age. 2) He felt she had just as much control over the situation as the teacher.

    Ok, in fairness, we all knew that girl in High School who dressed provocatively and demanded attention, whether it was from boys her age or cute teachers. But, come on! That girl we knew didn’t have control over her life at all, right? She definitely wouldn’t be able to back out in that kind of situation. Besides that, teenage girls, by and large, don’t have many rational thoughts during any given day.

    This begs the question: So, why is this guy still on the bench? In July(yeah, last month), he sentenced a 55-year-old woman to a 3-year suspended sentence on her 13th drunk driving charge! Meaning: No jail time! Seriously? The most deplorabe thing about this case are the words he lashed her with from the bench. “If you drink and drive and kill someone, you will spend some real time in prison”. If I lived in that town, I would throw a fit. Even the likes of Wil Wheaton know….

    What’s baffling is that Baugh has regularly handed down pretty harsh (and fair) sentences to sex offenders over the years. For instance, in September of 2011, he handed down a 100-year sentence to a 26-year old man for raping an 11-year-old boy after luring him to an empty irrigation ditch from a video store.

    In 2012, he sentenced a 23-year-old man to 56 years in prison for possesion of child pornography including images of children under age 12. The minimum state mandated sentence is 25 years for that offense. The Billings Gazzette reported that the same man admitted to raping a 13-year-old girl for which Baugh gave him another 10 years.

    The judge has issued an apology and offered to explain his comments a little further, but that seems like one mess you can’t back-peddle out of easily.

    So, what gives, Judge? Maybe it’s time you started shopping for that Lake house and buying a new set of clubs.