There is a disturbing story out of Montana involving the sentencing of a 54-year-old schoolteacher who was convicted of raping his 14-year-old student. The judge sentenced the Stacey Dean Rambold to a mere 30 days in prison despite Rambold's admission that he engaged in sexual relations with student Cherice Morales. Morales later committed suicide.
[Judge G. Todd] Baugh reportedly sentenced Rambold to 15 years prison for nonconsensual sexual intercourse, but suspended all except 31 days. The judge then gave the former teacher credit for one day served, reducing his total jail sentence to just 30 days.
According to The Billings Gazette, the judge said 14-year-old Morales was “older than her chronological age” and Rambold’s lawyer asked the judge to “consider how he’s been punished to this point.”
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Rambold was accused of engaging in at least three sexual encounters in 2008 with then 14-year-old student Morales. In 2010 Morales committed suicide. Her mother testified that the sexual relationship with Rambold was a “huge factor” in Morales’ suicide.
“This is crazy,” Stu said on radio this morning. “I'm telling you.”
There is no logical way to justify how a man, who is convicted of raping a minor who ultimately killed herself, is sentenced to just one month in prison. Glenn, Pat, and Stu chose to highlight the madness with some fascinating comparisons.
“I mean, do I even need to say,” Glenn asked. “30 days in jail? Really? 30 days in jail? I mean what's next? What's next? Six weeks?”
“I can't get over the punishment though. Think about this,” Stu said. “He could go to jail and, you know, watch the Wild Card round of the playoffs, and then he misses the middle of playoffs, and just see the Superbowl when he got out.”
“Think of this,” Glenn interjected. “He could go to jail and it could be like the Thanksgiving weekend, say, he goes to jail on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. In some years, he wouldn't have, you know, more than a day or two to do his Christmas shopping. Can you believe that?”
The crime and lack of punishment in this tragic case are no laughing matter, and thinking about the brevity of a month in the context of everyday life further illustrates the injustice.
“There might be some the listening audience that think, you know, ‘Guys, you've taken this too far. If you've now spent, you know, 12 minutes or so,’” Glenn said. “But I'm telling you that this is the only way that I can handle the news anymore. This is really the only way I can handle the news. How does a Judge in Montana come to a decision like that?”