Montana Judge Remarks About Rape Victim Outrages Public

Defence lawyers said Stacey Rambold had lost his career and his marriage

 Montana judge's remarks about raped teen prompt outrage

District Judge Todd Baugh: "I'm not sure just what I was attempting to say at that point, but it didn't come out correctly” 

A Montana judge who said a 14-year-old rape victim was "as much in control of the situation" as the man who assaulted her is under pressure to resign.

Montana Judge Todd Baugh also said the girl was "older than her chronological age", as he handed the teacher who assaulted her a month in prison.

The mother of the victim, who took her own life three years ago while the case was pending, is furious.

Judge Baugh, 71, has since said his comments were "stupid and wrong".

Hundreds of protesters are expected to demand his resignation outside the Yellowstone County Courthouse on Thursday.

A petition seeking his resignation is also being circulated.

'Demeaning of women'

The case began in 2008 when Stacey Rambold, now 54, was charged with three counts of sexual intercourse with a girl beneath the age of consent.

His victim, Cherice Moralez, was a student at the high school where he taught in the city of Billings, Montana.

Her mother blames her daughter's suicide in 2010 on the distress caused by the assault and its aftermath.

Prosecutors had asked Judge Baugh to hand down a 20-year prison term to Rambold, but defence lawyers said their client had suffered enough.

On Monday, Judge Baugh sentenced Rambold to 15 years in prison, with all but 31 days of the term suspended. He gave him credit for one day spent in jail.

During the hearing, Judge Baugh made his controversial comments about the victim.

The girl's mother, Auleia Hanlon, said in a written statement afterwards, released through her lawyer: "She wasn't even old enough to get a driver's license.

"But Judge Baugh, who never met our daughter, justified the paltry sentence saying she was older than her chronological age.

"I guess somehow it makes a rape more acceptable if you blame the victim, even if she was only 14."

Montana's attorney general is reportedly reviewing the case.

Faced with a mounting furore, Judge Baugh told the Billings Gazette newspaper on Wednesday that he was sorry.

"I don't know what I was thinking or trying to say," he said. "It was just stupid and wrong.

"What I said is demeaning of all women, not what I believe and irrelevant to the sentencing," he added. "My apologies to all my fellow citizens."

Rambold could have escaped a jail term altogether under a deal reached with prosecutors following Moralez's death.

They offered to ultimately drop charges if he completed a sexual offender treatment programme.

But proceedings against him were reactivated in December after it emerged he had had unsupervised visits with minors who were family members.

He had also failed to inform counsellors about his relationship with a woman.