Stacey Rambold, the former Montana teacher who was sentenced to just 30 days in prison for the rape of a 14-year-old girl, has completed his jail sentence and was freed on Thursday.
According to the Associated Press, Rambold, 55, left a Montana prison, but he will be on probation and has to register as a sex offender.
The case caught national attention late last month, when Judge G. Todd Baugh sentenced Rambold to 30 days in prison for the 2007 rape of Cherice Moralez, who was 14 at the time. She later committed suicide before turning 17. Rambold had initially been sentenced to a sex-offender program, but was dismissed, so prosecutors took the case up again, hoping that he’d be sentenced to at least a decade in prison.
But Baugh made several shocking statements during the sentencing, claiming that Charise was “as much in control of the situation” as Rambold and that she was “older than her chronological age.” That sparked national outcry and prosecutors called the 30-day sentence “illegal.” Baugh later tried to apologize, but that is not enough for prosecutors who are appealing the sentence.
Meanwhile, KURL8 is reporting that Montana’s National Organization of Women has filed a formal complaint to get Baugh removed.
“I came here with a complaint signed by Montana NOW and Pennsylvania NOW with allegations against Judge Baugh, and our reasons for filing the complaint, and a hundred and forty thousand signatures from petitions,” activist Marian Bradley told the station. She added, “If we can't get him removed from this there is something wrong with the system and I know people in the state will work to not get him re-elected.”