14 DAY TRIAL // A former teacher accused of raping a female student has been convicted and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
54-year-old Stacey Dean Rambold of Montana was found guilty of raping the girl, who was 14-year-old when the affair started.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but Yellowstone County Judge G. Todd Baugh suspended the sentence to one month in jail and the rest of the time in probation.
Student Cherice Morales committed suicide in 2010, Huffington Post documented. Her mother, Auliea Hanlon, has stated in court that she never had suicidal tendencies before being abused by the teacher.
The trial revealed that the teacher had met with the student at least three times starting in 2008.
“You people suck!” Hanlon blurted out in the courtroom after the sentence was given.
“Please put him behind bars,” she pleaded with the judge.
Chief Deputy County Attorney Rod Souza has asked for a 20-year sentence suspended to 10 years in jail.
Rambold was served with imprisonment for 31 days but was allowed a day off the sentence for serving one day in jail throughout the trial.
The judge raised eyebrows by mentioning that the student was just “as much in control of the situation” as the defendant was. Judge Baugh also stated that she was “older than her chronological age.”
According to The Billings Gazette, the victim's family has sued School District 2 for failing to prevent the incident. The suit ended in a $91,000 (€68,400) wrongful-death settlement.
Rambold was hired at the Senior High School in 2004. That very year, principal Scott Anderson received a complaint from a student who alleged that the defendant touched her thigh and waist.
At the time, the business teacher was cited to “keep his hands off all students” but he was never charged.