Woman outraged after former Baylor student accused of rape avoids jail time

[SummerMadness]

Woman outraged after former Baylor student accused of rape avoids jail time

A Texas judge on Monday accepted a plea bargain allowing a former Baylor University student accused of raping a woman at a fraternity party to avoid serving jail time, marking at least the third time the judge has approved probation for men accused of sexually assaulting Baylor students.

Judge Ralph Strother's decision to accept the plea deal sparked outrage from the woman who accused Jacob Walter Anderson of repeatedly raping her. The woman says she was plied with a drink of punch at the party in 2016 and became disoriented. Anderson, the woman said, led her behind a tent and assaulted her while she was gagged and choked.

 

[bhsmte]

Typically up to the prosecutor to accept plea deal. If they offered and took the deal, that means they had concerns whether they had enough evidence to convict.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

Typically up to the prosecutor to accept plea deal. If they offered and took the deal, that means they had concerns whether they had enough evidence to convict.

This is true. mostly. Sometimes, it is merely to expedite matters (as in during the holidays). So we really don't know.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

Typically up to the prosecutor to accept plea deal. If they offered and took the deal, that means they had concerns whether they had enough evidence to convict.

Or dont want to put the victims through a trial. It happens more than people think. Sadly this gives him more years to continue to make more victims.

 

[bhsmte]

Or dont want to put the victims through a trial. It happens more than people think. Sadly this gives him more years to continue to make more victims.

Could be.

The OP inferred something about the judge though. The judge is not a prosecutor or a defense attorney, they are basically umpires of the case. If the prosecution makes a plea deal to a lessor charge, that is on the prosecutor, not the judge.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

Could be.

The OP inferred something about the judge though. The judge is not a prosecutor or a defense attorney, they are basically umpires of the case. If the prosecution makes a plea deal to a lessor charge, that is on the prosecutor, not the judge.

Agreed.

 

[JCFantasy23]

So much "justice" for sexual assault still isn't any kind of justice. Finally these cases are getting more publicity, but legally it's still tricky.

 

[bhsmte]

IMO, for a prosecutor to make this type of deal, they had to have had some concern about how the evidence would present in court and felt there was a real risk of a good defense being able to be mounted.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

IMO, for a prosecutor to make this type of deal, they had to have had some concern about how the evidence would present in court and felt there was a real risk of a good defense being able to be mounted.

It's seems like the men, that are upper class in college seem to get a break.

 

[SummerMadness]

I found this list (most likely incomplete):
Brock Turner, 6 months, raped unconscious woman, was chased by witnesses
Austin Wilkerson, 0 days in prison, work release program
Nicholas Field 0 days, raped a mentally challenged child
David Becker 0 days, doesn’t have to register as a sex offender
Chester Thompson, 3 years probation, police officer, raped mother of missing child
John Enoch, 1 year probation, two victims, matching DNA, one had genital lacerations from her rape
Kraigen Grooms, 0 days, raped 2 year old girl on film
Martin Blake, sexually assaulted 12 year old family member, received 17 days in jail, prosecution asked for 25 years
John R.K. Howard, 2 years probation, sodomized a mentally challenged teammate with a wire hanger
Cody Herrera, raped a 14 year old child that he met online, judge gave him probation if he agreed to be married before he raped again
Nolan Bruder, drugged and raped 16 year old sister, 8 months in jail
Ma’lik Richmond, raped a child and videotaped it, served 10 months
Christopher Mirasolo 7 months for rape and kidnapping, given his victim’s address and joint custody of the child he raped into existence, raped another child after being released from prison
Benjamin Lawrence Petty, received 15 years probation for tying up and raping a 13 year old child
Justin Schneider, choked a woman unconscious and masturbated on her, received a 1 year suspended sentence
David Hernandez (6ix9ine) was sentenced to 4 years probation for gang raping a child on camera and posting the video on social media. Despite violating his plea agreement, the judge had no interest in sentencing him to prison.

Yet we see stories like this...
Cyntoia Brown, Sentenced at 16, Must Serve 51 Years Before She Is Eligible for Release

Cyntoia Brown was only 16 when she was sentenced to life in prison, and the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled this past week that she will have to serve 51 years before she could be eligible for release.

Brown was convicted of murder and robbery for killing 43-year-old Johnny Mitchell Allen in 2004 after he solicited her for sex and brought her to his home. Brown claimed her actions were in self-defense because she was afraid Allen was going to kill her.

 

[bhsmte]

It's seems like the men, that are upper class in college seem to get a break.

Or, the better attorney you have, the greater chance holes in the case will be exposed and the prosecutor risks aquittal.

 

[rjs330]

Generally prosecutors will not take this kind of deal unless there are problems in the case. I hate to say it but convictions are Paramount to prosecutors. If they feel they can't get a conviction at trial they will take a plea bargain to avoid the embarrassing acquittal. The defendant is allowed a good defense and in this case the defense probably had some holes they could poke in the case which is their job. You could blame the defense for this as well as the prosecution. The judge is not at fault here.

 

[Ana the Ist]

IMO, for a prosecutor to make this type of deal, they had to have had some concern about how the evidence would present in court and felt there was a real risk of a good defense being able to be mounted.

Ehhhh....

 

[iluvatar5150]

The prosecutor has published a letter explaining her rationale. Basically, she was gun-shy because she recently tried a similar, though stronger case and lost. She blamed the first jury for expressing an irrational level of skepticism and didn't think she could do better with a new jury and a somewhat weaker case, so she took a plea instead of risking an acquittal.

Baylor sex assault case: Here's why a prosecutor refused to put an ex-frat leader on trial - CNN

 

[Aryeh Jay]

After all the hoopla recently, it is easy to understand why a jury might not believe the female victim.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

Only 10% of criminal cases in the US go to trial. There literally aren't enough courts and judges to hold a trial for every case, so in most cases the prosecutor has to either work out a deal or drop the charges.

 

[dgiharris]

So much "justice" for sexual assault still isn't any kind of justice. Finally these cases are getting more publicity, but legally it's still tricky.

It is tricky because a majority of sexual assault cases are "he said she said" with no proof.

As a big black man, I've had more than enough of my share of some little white girl crying her eyes out as she lies about me and everyone immediately taking her side and believing 100% of whatever she says...

A) Rapes and sexual assaults happen
B) "Some" women LIE about rape and sexual assault as well

Imo the above happen at around the same frequency or statistically within the same order of magnitude or ball park. What this means to me is that you can't just take the word of woman who yells "I've been raped" vs a guy who says, "no it was consensual".

The argument of "Well, rape is so terrible who would ever lie about that" is easily countered by the argument "rape is so terrible who would ever do that"

However, much like race issues in this country we as a country do NOT want to have an honest discourse on rape, sexual assault, and the victim's role in rape and sexual assault and false allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Part of the problem is the bandwagon effect. Something happens and without knowing any details we all immediately jump on a bandwagon and support that argument. Firstly, we need to collectively not do that and we need to look at each case on a case-by-case basis. Next, we need to be honest in our discourse about the topic...

in event, our justice system is built on the foundation of INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY and I don't think we as a people really understand the implications of that. This means that if it is he said she said and no evidence then it is a hard case to prove.

This is one of the reasons behind plea bargaining. Barring a full confession, there is a 'risk' that the case will be lost. Once lost, there is no recourse. So, "sometimes" it is in the best interest of justice for the prosecution to go for a plea deal.

Now was this one of those times?

I dunno, I didn't dive too deep into this, but just wanted to chime in with the above points to help frame further discussion

 

[usexpat97]

Resurrecting this old thread, since in an ironic twist of events the Baylor women's basketball team just won the national championship.

Looks like 24 of the bikers in the Twin Peaks MURDERS got off scott free, too. Apparently, Waco (the same jurisdiction as the sexual assault victims) can't seem to convict anybody of anything. Apparently, Waco is a nice place to live--if you like to do bad things. If you don't like bad things done to you, though...maybe not....

Charges dropped in Texas biker shootout that left 9 dead - CNN

 

[Ironhold]

Resurrecting this old thread, since in an ironic twist of events the Baylor women's basketball team just won the national championship.

Looks like 24 of the bikers in the Twin Peaks MURDERS got off scott free, too. Apparently, Waco (the same jurisdiction as the sexual assault victims) can't seem to convict anybody of anything. Apparently, Waco is a nice place to live--if you like to do bad things. If you don't like bad things done to you, though...maybe not....

Charges dropped in Texas biker shootout that left 9 dead - CNN

Waco is about 90 minutes north of me, and so I'm officially a part of the Waco / Temple / Killeen, Texas, media market.

Women's Basketball Team -> The head coach is generally one of the best there is right now; the team's managed a rather incredible track record, so the win is no surprise.

Biker Shoot-Out -> This one was a mess from the beginning, as the prosecution originally tried to, in essence, have all bikers present charged with involvement. The end result was a series of lawsuits and other legal maneuvers that functionally made it impossible to progress.

 

[trunks2k]

If the prosecution makes a plea deal to a lessor charge, that is on the prosecutor, not the judge.

Though I believe the judge can refuse a plea bargain.