You probably remember (and wish you could forget) the judge who sent a 47-year-old teacher to jail for a mere 30 days, even after he pled guilty to “sex without consent” with a 14-year-old student who later killed herself. Judge Todd Baugh said the victim was “older than her chronological age” and explained this wasn’t “forcible, beat-up rape.”
Well, despite public apologies and backtracking, the Montana Supreme Court has ordered he be suspended and publicly censured. Officially, that is—he’s already been pretty thoroughly trashed on the Internet.
The Billings Gazette (via the Wire) reports Baugh’s public censure happens July 1. He’ll also be suspended without pay for 31 days, starting December 1. That’s how he’ll finish out his term, since he very wisely decided not to seek reelection. Probably not how he wanted to end his judicial career.
“There is no place in the Montana judiciary for perpetuating the stereotype that women and girls are responsible for sexual crimes committed against them,” the Supreme Court decision’s said.
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