The Montana judge who caused a nationwide firestorm by saying a 14-year-old girl was partly responsible for being raped by her teacher has been suspended 31 days for his comments. In a 4-1 decision, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that District Judge G. Todd Baugh not only broke the law by “sentencing” the teacher to only 31 days in prison, but that his suggestion that the victim bore partial responsibility for the ordeal was grossly inappropriate. The suspension, which will go into effect on December 1, would probably have been much longer than that, but Baugh is not running for reelection.
This tragic story begins in 2008, when Billings school officials learned that Stacey Rambold, a teacher at Billings Central High School, had been carrying on an affair with one of his students, Cherice Moralez, for the better part of a year. Rambold resigned that July rather than face almost certain termination. He was indicted that October. However, the case was thrown into a tailspin when Cherice committed suicide in 2010–apparently because the case had been continued three times after being initially slated for a March 2009 trial. Yellowstone County prosecutors, apparently fearing that they wouldn’t be able to get a conviction without Cherice’s testimony, cut a deal with Rambold that called for the charges to be dismissed in three years if he completed a treatment program–a questionable decision in and of itself, since Rambold had a history of inappropriate behavior with kids going as far back as 2004.
However, Rambold was kicked out of the program in November 2012 for having contact with minor nieces and nephews. Even though other adults were present, Rambold was required to get permission for any contact with minors, even if that contact was supervised. Realizing he was in a legal checkmate, Rambold pleaded guilty to a single count of sexual intercourse with a minor without consent (statutory rape). Prosecutors wanted Rambold sentenced to 20 years in prison, with 10 years suspended. However, in a jaw-dropping decision, Baugh sentenced Rambold to 15 years in prison, with all but 31 days suspended. As if that wasn’t outrageous enough, Baugh said that based on statements Cherice made to investigators before her suicide, she was “probably as much in control of the situation” as Rambold, and also seemed to be “older than her chronological age.”
Realizing that he had really stepped in it, Baugh apologized two days after his sentence, but this wasn’t enough to stem demands for his removal from the bench. In September, he tried to vacate his own sentence, saying that he didn’t know at the time that Montana sentencing guidelines called for a minimum sentence of two years. However, the state supreme court ruled he didn’t have that authority. The state appealed the conviction in November 2013, and on April 30 the Supreme Court threw out the 31-day sentence and remanded the case to a new judge for resentencing. Although Rambold completed his 31-day sentence in September, this makes it a near-certainty that he will be going back to prison.
In February, Baugh admitted his comments were improper, and asked the state supreme court to decide his sentence in lieu of a formal proceeding.? However, he still maintained the 31-day sentence was justified. Apparently that didn’t help his cause with the state supreme court. It ruled that the sentence ran counter to Montana law stating that people younger than 16 can’t legally consent to intercourse, as well as sentencing guidelines that only take the victim’s chronological age into account in imposing a sentence. Although the state Judicial Standards Commission recommended that Baugh be publicly censured, the state supreme court felt it didn’t go far enough and decided that Baugh should be suspended, declaring:
“There is no place in the Montana judiciary for perpetuating the stereotype that women and girls are responsible for sexual crimes committed against them.”
It’s hard to imagine that there is any jurisdiction in this country where Baugh’s comments would be acceptable either. One of the justices, Laurie McKinnon, issued a dissent longer than the original ruling, saying that the court did not have the authority to impose a sentence longer than the one recommended by the commission. It’s hard to fault the majority’s reasoning, though. Baugh’s actions in this case were so outrageously inappropriate and degrading that nothing less than a suspension would have been appropriate.
Baugh has until June 19 to appeal the suspension and/or withdraw his consent to a censure. At last, it looks like Cherice has a measure of justice.
Darrell Lucus is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
edited by tw
