Stacey Dean Rambold, a former high school teacher in Montana, was released Thursday after serving a 30-day prison sentence for raping a 14-year-old student who later committed suicide.
The 54-year-old convicted rapist left the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge after completing the lenient term handed down by District Judge G. Todd Baugh of Billings last month for the 2007 rape of Cherice Moralez, according to the Associated Press. However, he won't exactly be a free man. He was sentenced to probation for the next 14 years and 11 months.
Court documents show that Rambold will have to agree to conditions like undergoing sex offender treatment, not going to places where children congregate and not having a cell phone with photo, video or Internet capabilities.
However, the victim's mother says she hopes Rambold will be behind bars again soon.
"[Judge G. Todd Baugh] made a mistake and I'm disappointed. [Thirty one] days, that's outrageous, but the Montana Supreme Court stepped in. Hopefully they'll make it right," said Cherice Moralez's mother Auliea Hanlon on CNN. Moralez committed suicide before Rambold went to trial at the age of 17.
Hanlon added that she wants to avoid the man who raped her daughter.
"I hope I don't see him. That would be horrible," she said. "I didn't see him for the first six years. I didn't see him until the courtroom."
Hanlon said someday, she hopes she will be able to forgive him.
"I could be miserable the rest of my life," she said, "but that wouldn't do my other kids any good."
Rambold's lenient sentence and the judge's comments about his victim sparked national outrage and protests. According to Judge Baugh, the victim acted "older than her chronological age" and was "as much in control of the situation" as the man who pleaded guilty, reports the New York Times. After national outrage, the judge apologized, admitting that his remarks were demeaning to women.
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