Rapist Teacher Originally Sentenced to 31 Days Gets 10 Years in Prison
Stacey Rambold, a man sentenced to 31 days in jail after raping his 14-year-old student, was resentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday, in accordance with an April ruling by Montana's Supreme Court, which declared the judge's earlier sentence illegal.
Montana judge Todd Baugh drew widespread criticism and outrage last year when he sentenced a man to just 31 days in jail for raping his 14-year-old student, saying the victim was "older than her chronological age" and "as much in control of the situation" as her then 49-year-old rapist.
Under Montana state law, the rape of a victim under 16 carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years, a statute clearly violated by Baugh's bizarre, victim-blaming judgment. "I think that people have in mind that this was some violent, forcible, horrible rape," Baugh told reporters last August, "It was horrible enough as it is just given her age, but it wasn't this forcible beat-up rape."
Rambold's victim was unable to see her rapist brought to justice, having committed suicide before the trial.
For his part, Baugh was censured this July by the Montana Supreme Court, which determined he had "eroded public confidence in the judiciary and created an appearance of impropriety," suspending the judge for 31 days.
[Image via AP Photo/Matthew Brown]