A Texas judge sentenced a confessed rapist to only five years of probation, because the victim wasn’t a virgin and “wasn’t the victim she claimed to be”.
State District Judge Jeanine Howard sentenced Sir Young, 20, to probation, including 45 days in jail, after he admitted to the rape of a 14-year-old girl, when they were both students at Booker T. Washington High School two years ago.
Young will also not be receiving any of the consequences given to other rapists, such as staying away from young children, attending sex offender treatment, and refraining from watching pornography.
Howard told The Dallas Morning News, that the easy sentence is due to the fact that the victim wasn’t a virgin at the time of the rape and she “wasn’t the victim she claimed to be”.
“There are rape cases that deserve life. There are rape cases that deserve 20 years,” she went on to say. “Every now and then you have one of those that deserve probation. This is one of those, and I stand by it.”
The victim, who is now 17 years old, spoke to News 8 and said that the judge’s comments were like “a slap in the face”. She was disappointed that she didn’t get the help she thought she would by speaking out.
“I did what I was supposed to do. I went to the law about this situation,” she told The Morning News. “(But the sentence) says everything I went through was for nothing. It would have been better for me not to say anything.”
Judge Howard has since removed herself from the case, which is being assigned to a different court.