Student charged with sexual assault won't go to prison, be 'burdened with the stigma'
A former Massachusetts high school student charged with sexually assaulting two other students while they were unconscious will not spend time behind bars.
He was instead given two years of probation in a recent district court decision, after which legal evidence of the assault may disappear from his record.
The case is being compared to that of Brock Turner, a former Stanford University student who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman after a party and received a six-month jail sentence, which was later cut in half. Just as Turner's case did, this one from Massachusetts is sparking outrage online.
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What happened?
David Becker, 18, was a senior when he and other students were at a party in April with no parents around.
The party broke up a little before midnight, at which point Becker and a few other students offered to help clean up, School Resource Officer Michael Ingalls said, according to MassLive.com. Two female students fell asleep in the same room, and Becker followed them inside later, hoping to "talk."
Both students say they woke up to Becker sexually assaulting them. He allegedly penetrated both students, who are 18, with his fingers.
According to WWLP, a local news station, a police report states Becker said he believed touching one victim was OK because she did not stop him. He denies touching the other.
How he got probation
The assistant district attorney prosecuting the case reportedly recommended a two-year prison sentence for two counts of indecent assault and battery.
Instead, Becker got probation. Palmer District Court Judge Thomas Estes ordered the case continued without a finding, which means there was enough evidence to find him guilty, but rather than fighting the case, Becker agreed to probation.
"He can now look forward to a productive life without being burdened with the stigma of having to register as a sex offender."
He won't have to register as a sex offender and can serve his probation in Ohio, where he is expected to attend college, according to CBS. If Becker avoids drugs and drinking for his two-year probation, and if he avoids the women he assaulted, his criminal record will read as though that night in April never happened.
"He can now look forward to a productive life without being burdened with the stigma of having to register as a sex offender," his attorney, Thomas Rooke, said, according to MassLive.com. "The goal of this sentence was not to impede this individual from graduating high school and to go onto the next step of his life, which is a college experience."
Comparisons to Brock Turner
Rooke made sure to underscore that Becker was a star athlete in high school, a description repeated in many news reports.
Research shows that media reports commonly describe an accused rapist in such flattering terms. That happened to Turner too after his defense team played a similar card, rallying character witnesses to paint a picture of a bright young athlete on Stanford's swim team.
Social media users have pounced on Becker's seemingly light sentence, much like they did when Turner's case had the spotlight. Some started using the hashtag #DavidBecker this week, although it wasn't trending on Twitter as a similar hashtag for Turner had.
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UltraViolet, a women's rights advocacy group, also criticized Becker's light sentencing. They had decried Turner's earlier this summer, as well.
"This decision undermines public faith in our courts — and yet we still wonder why so many women are afraid to come forward to report sexual assault," UltraViolet cofounder Nita Chaudhary said in a statement, according to MassLive.com. "Judge Estes should have listened to prosecutors who recommended a stronger sentence for Becker, one that would have prioritized the well-being of the survivors of his crimes, over the future of a rapist."
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
