if the sentence was NOT within the guidelines, it was an illegal sentence and should be overturned...
Posted on 09/06/2013 2:52:37 PM PDT by markomalley
Montana's Supreme Court on Friday blocked a judge from resentencing a former teacher who got just 30 days in prison for raping a 14-year-old student, a sentence that was widely criticized after the judge said the victim was "older than her chronological age."
Justices said Judge G. Todd Baugh lacks authority to reconsider the sentence he gave former Billings teacher Stacey Rambold, 54.
An appeal of the case already was pending, but Baugh had been seeking to possibly undo the sentence that was panned after his remarks. Baugh also commented that victim Cherice Moralez was "as much in control of the situation as was the defendant."
The girl committed suicide in 2010 while Rambold's trial was pending.
The Attorney General's Office filed an emergency petition to stop the Friday afternoon hearing. Attorneys for the state had warned that holding it as planned could throw the case into disarray and "cause gross injustice to an orderly appeal."
Less than an hour before the hearing was set to begin, the high court ordered Baugh to cancel it and enter a written sentencing for Rambold.
Baugh appeared in his courtroom shortly after the hearing was scheduled to begin. He told a group of reporters and observers that he decided he could not resentence Rambold even before the Supreme Court intervened. The judge also seemed to affix some degree of blame for his original sentence to prosecutors, who he said did not raise objections until after the fact.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The judge and perp should be shot.
Real justice needs to be done.
Judge should be disbarred.
Isn’t it some kind of Double Jeopardy to do this anyway?
That said, the sentence imposed in this case was an outrage and I hope there are grounds for the appellate court to reverse it.
The state supreme court cannot protect this guy from vigilante justice.
The victim killed herself and he still said these things and gave this sentence? Even if he didn’t realize it was a terrible sentence, wouldn’t he realize the public would hate him for it?
The stupid little shit never thought he would be called to account on this.
Ammo is expensive but rope is "recyclable".
That is why the State rules don't allow it. There may be a window of time when the Judge can look around the court room at the shocked faces and say "Did I say 30 days? I meant 30 years!" and make it stick, but he can't pronounce and sign the judgment, decide he is taking too much heat, and then bring the defendant back and add to his time.
Boy, do I agree with you.
lol
So now the AG is stepping up to the plate for the criminal? Perp either be kin to some mighty powerful folks, or he’s in a ‘club’ with some important politicians.
I’m honestly getting tired of letting evil men and women run rampant. It seems these days to me that the most incompetent, evil, and selfish people are in all the positions of power. There are exceptions to the rule. But really. I’m tired of it.
No one does a damned thing about it either, because we are “civilized”? I don’t think so. Society, technology, and everything modernized along with this whole PC ideology has destroyed our ability to rationalize and destroy evil. All the debating over what is right and what is wrong. There should be no debate, it’s good and evil.
This man should have just been destroyed, period.
When it comes to politics--including the judiciary--these are evidently the primary qualifications for the job.
if the sentence was NOT within the guidelines, it was an illegal sentence and should be overturned...
Exactly.
INSANE!
INSANE!
Taking responsibilities for one's actions seems to have gone the way of the Dodo bird when it comes to our current class of gov't officials.
You don’t know the half of it. Perp was THROWN OUT of the “rehab program” he was in and thereby broke his original sentencing agreement. The DA had asked for 20 years with 10 suspended. Judge suspended all but 30 days.
The judge has run unopposed the last 4 terms and had just announced he was running yet again...
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