Prosecutors, along many citizens of Montana, are outraged at a judged recent decision to give a 47 year old teacher only 30 days of jail time for raping his 14 year old student. Rambold was accused and found guilty of repeatedly raping one of his 14 year old students. Before the case went to trial, the girl killed herself out of shame for what had been done to her. The judge who presided over the case may have been way too lenient according to allegations coming from the prosecution. The prosecutors have taken their case to the Supreme Court to see if they can get the 30 day sentence overruled and get what they feel is a more appropriate sentence levied. Though his 30 days have already passed behind bars, Stacey Dean Rambold may not yet be a free man.
Cherice Morales was only a 14 year old school girl when these actions took place. Her teacher, Stacey Dean Rambold, was a 47 year old who should have known better than to become involved with such a young girl. He took advantage of her on many occasions despite her lack of cooperation. Shortly after the case was announced, Morales took her own life and her testimony could not be used against Rambold towards his conviction. Even without Morales’ testimony the jury still found Rambold guilty of the charges, but what the judge decided to do with the ruling is what set some of the public and the prosecution ablaze.
The judge has made a statement before handing down the sentence that the 14 year old girl was just as responsible for what took place as her 47 year old teacher who should have known better. He went on to make statements about how she may have only been 14 years old, but she acted much older than her chronological age. These types of statements are being criticized now for not only being unprofessional, but for also being too lenient and heartless.
In Montana, this type of conviction should have carried a minimum of 2 years of prison, and prosecution was hoping for 20 years. Given the outcome of this situation, the prosecution was thinking that the child’s suicide would have helped make the sentence even more strict, but it appears that her absence lead the judge to rule on a much lighter sentence.
If the Supreme Court determines that the judge’s sentence was too lenient, then the case would be assigned a new sentence. This is the outcome that many of the outraged citizens of Montana want to happen.
This is the status update from the Montana Department of Corrections
Montana Teacher Given Only 30 Day Sentence For Raping 14 YO Student.
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