Judge Implies That 14 Year Old Girl Who Cannot Legally Consent to Having Sex Asked for it From A 54 Year Old Teacher

August 29, 2013

A story by John Bacon of USA Today found at the link below, details how a Montana Judge sentenced a 54 year old former teacher who raped a 14 year old girl to only 30 days in prison, after he was terminated from a sex offender treatment program which permitted a deferred prosecution.

The story reports that “District Judge G. Todd Baugh, in sentencing Stacey Rambold on Monday, said victim Cherice Moralez was “as much in control of the situation” as her teacher, referring to Cherice as a troubled youth “older than her chronological age,”” as reported by the Billings Gazette. The Judge apologized and explained that the rape was not “forcible beat-up rape.” While its laudable that the Judge acknowledged his comments were hurtful and wrong, the sentence of 30 days in jail for such a crime against a child speaks for itself and implies that the child consented to this rape even though legally she could not. And the greatest tragedy of the situation is that the young girl took her own life. The impact of this “non-forcible” rape on the short life and untimely death unfortunately cannot be known, but it appears greatly incongruous with a 30 day sentence for the perpetrator who was a 40 –something teacher when this happened and should be held accountable for raping a child and a student.

Contrast this with Delaware’s strong statutorily mandated jail sentences for one who “[i]ntentionally engages in sexual penetration with a child who has not yet reached that child’s own sixteenth birthday and the person stands in a position of trust, authority or supervision over the child []” Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 778.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/28/teacher-rape-montana/272281