A Montana teacher who raped his 14-year-old student and was sentenced to 30 days in jail may face more time because of a mandatory minimum two-year sentence that is the law of the land in Billings, Montana.
Convicted rapist and Billings High School teacher Stacey Rambold may face more jail time because of a law that requires a minimum of a two-year sentence.
Prosecutors have asked for a reversal of the sentence, and are specifically asking for a 20-year sentence for rapes that occurred in 2007. A judge’s 30-day sentence is apparently illegal in Billings, Montana.
Judge G. Todd Baugh presiding over the case suspended 15 years of the sentence, and then sentenced Rambold only 31 days, minus the one day he already served, because victim Cherice Morales “… seemed older than her chronological age.” Later the judge told CNN that the statement was not the best choice of words, adding the crime was “… was not a violent, forcible, beat-the-victim rape, like you see in the movies … but it was nonetheless, a rape and should not have happened.” Prosecutors argued Rambold targeted a troubled young girl and violated his position of trust as a teacher at Billings Senior High School by engaging in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student.
As the case was still pending, victim Cherice Morales committed suicide just before her 17th birthday. Without their key witness, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the case if Rambold admitted to one count of rape and agreed to enter a three-stage sex offender treatment program. Prosecutors had previously been seeking a 20-year sentence (with 10 years suspended).
To avoid prison have charges dismissed, Rambold agreed to …
Confess to rape
Complete sexual offender treatment
Stay away from children
In December, prosecutors revived the case and re-filed charges after they learned that the teacher had been kicked out of the program for having unsupervised visits with minors. Judge G. Todd Baugh called Rambold “treatable” and then sentenced him only 30 days. Judge G. Todd Baugh says he was never made aware of the minimum mandatory sentence of two years.
Get updates from The Cardinal CRIME BLOG ‘Plus’ on Facebook. Just ‘LIKE’ the ‘Arlington Cardinal Crime & Forensics’ Page (become a fan of our page). The updates cover all posts in the 24/7 Crime Alerts! and sub-categories. See all of The Cardinal Facebook fan pages at Arlingtoncardinal.com/about/facebook …