A former Billings, Montana high school teacher accused of raping a 14-year-old student seven years ago was re-sentenced to 10 years in prison by the state Supreme Court.
Stacey Dean Rambold, 55, pled guilty last year to the crime, which he committed in 2007. The student, Cherice Moralez, committed suicide before Rambold went to his trial, in which he was sentenced to 31 days in prison.
According to ABC News, the re-sentencing was announced one year after Rambold served his 31 days in jail. The judge of the last trial was criticized and suspended from the bench for the 31-day sentencing.
Before the second trial, Rambold's legal team was aiming for a two-year sentence. According to them, Rambold "had no prior criminal record, underwent sex offender treatment and was considered by the state as a low risk to re-offend."
This argument did not convince the judge, who noted that Rambold already pled guilty to sexual intercourse without consent. Speaking directly to Rambold in court yesterday, the judge said "I considered your abuse and exploitation of your position of trust as a teacher, and specifically Cherice's teacher."
"You should be and you are sentenced to 15 years at the lock down state prison however I will suspend five of those years. Conditions apply to your compliance with the terms, conditions and restrictions outlined in the pre-sentence investigation report," Judge Randall Spaulding said.
Cherice's father John Moralez, who was present in court at the time, said he thought Rambold deserved to spend more than just 10 years in jail for raping his daughter. Moralez further said that the new sentence was still better than the original sentence of 31 days.
