Judge apologizes for comments on teacher rape case

They should charge this judge as an accessory after the fact.

 

I'm unclear: did the girl kill herself before or after his comments? The article says the case was still pending, and the sentencing comes at the end of the case.

 

Long story short, girl killed herself several years ago. The comments were recent (this week?), after the case came back to life because the original sentence (rehab) failed and the guy got the new 30-day jail sentence.

It's a little bit of a weird case because, if I understand right, this was a statutory rape (consensual sex) as opposed to a forced rape. If the guy was 18 and she was 17, no one would think he should get sentenced at all, despite it technically being the same crime. But the huge age difference makes it more complicated.

 

The relationship started when she was 14. That's what complicates it, that's way under the age of consent.

 

Agreed - but even then, it's also the fact that he's 50+ or whatever. If it was a 17 yr old having a relationship with a 14 yr old, I'm not sure there would be the same outrage. I'm not saying the anger is wrong at all, though.

 

I'm saying the case legally might be more complicated than the reporting indicates. Statutory rape is treated differently than forced rape - if the rapist were younger, people might be OK with the penalty, and I'm not sure how much age affects sentencing. Often in these situations, if the relationship was ongoing, the victim doesn't even support the prosecution - I haven't seen anything on that in this case either way. The original sentence (just rehab?) is weird in itself - and maybe even more ridiculous than 30 days in jail - and I don't get the sense that there were a lot of protests to that, but I don't know if that's the case, and if not, why there wasn't. All in all, I'm saying the circumstances of the case might be more complicated than the reporting we've seen thus far.

 

Thanks Major. Saying that about a dead girl is bad enough. It'd be worse (PR-wise at least) if his comments preceded her suicide.

Part of the reason the sentence seems too short, I think, is not only is he far older, he's also an authority figure as a teacher. A guy of the same age that seduced her at a coffee shop is bad enough, but you add the prospect that he could coerce her with power conferred upon him by his association to the school makes it that much worse.

 

Agreed. I still don't understand why rehab was thought to be a good sentence in the first place, and why that didn't generate the outrage. There just seems to be something missing in the reporting.

 

14 years old is all I need to know.

 

Not only was the child just 14 years old, but the man convicted was a school teacher. In other words, the teacher had to be at least 21 at the time -- and was probably older.

In my opinion, this judge should be removed from office, disbarred and his judicial pension should be cut by 50% and given to the child's parents as punitive damage. There's no law for doing any of these, but there should be.

 

Pretty sure if it is a teacher it is illegal in any case.

 

The reason why I believe the teacher got such a light sentence was the girl killed herself. The state was scared they would get trayvon martined so they cut a deal with the teacher. When you don't have much evidence and your star witness is dead you have to be careful. It also sounds like this girl might not be super clean and they were probably scared the teacher's defense would make her look bad.

 

Agree - I don't think anyone has argued it wasn't illegal.

 

I don't know Montana law but from the article it says:
[rquoter]Rambold was charged in October 2008 with three counts of sexual intercourse without consent after authorities alleged he had an ongoing sexual relationship with Cherice Moralez[/rquoter]

In other states I have heard consensual sex with a minor referred to as "statutory rape" or "sex with a minor".

 

It also says an ongoing relationship, and since a minor can't technically consent, it might just be how the law is written there. I have no idea the details of the case, though. That said, if it *was* forcible rape, that makes the original sentence of rehab that much more ridiculous.

 

Someone that is 14 cannot give consent.