An 18-year-old US school student has had rape charges dismissed after sexually assaulting two unconscious 18-year-old women.
David Becker was accused of penetrating the victims with his finger while they were sleeping, and they woke up to the assault.
According to MassLive.com, the police report included this statement: “Victim 1 stated that she had heard that in the past Mr. Becker had done this to other girls and that his friends sometimes refer to him as ‘David the Rapist.’”
Though prosecutors originally recommended that he serve two years in jail, David Becker has been handed a punishment of two years probation, and as long as he follows the terms of the probation, he won’t have to register as a sex offender. He will have to remain ‘drug and alcohol free’, and he will have to stay away from the two girls he assaulted. But besides that, he can enjoy the freedom of a regular citizen, News.com.au reports.
Becker’s lawyer, Thomas Rooke, released a statement following the announcement of the sentencing, which has left many people gob-smacked.
“He can now look forward to a productive life without being burdened with the stigma of having to register as a sex offender.
“The goal of this sentence was not to impede this individual from graduating high school and to go on to the next step of his life, which is a college experience.
“We all made mistakes when we were 17, 18, 19 years old, and we shouldn’t be branded for life with a felony offence and branded a sex offender … Putting this kid in jail for two years would have destroyed this kid’s life.”
This kind of lenient sentence is not uncommon, in fact his case sounds extraordinarily similar to Brock Turner, who got only 6 months of jail as his sentence for the assault of an unconscious woman on campus.
RELATED: Brock Turner’s Sentence Has Been Cut In Half
The sentence has been condemned as a ‘slap on the wrist’, and being indicative of how ingrained rape culture is to society.
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