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Unprecedented public fury has engulfed Yellowstone County District Court for the past six weeks.
A former Billings high school teacher is free on probation after serving just 31 days in prison on a conviction of raping a 14-year-old student. That unconscionably lenient sentence is being appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.
The young victim is dead, having ended her own life four years ago after charges were filed against Stacey Rambold.
Those facts indicate the great injustice in this case.
However, District Judge G. Todd Baugh’s own words spoken on Aug. 26 made the injustice much more grievous.
In sentencing Rambold to 31 days in prison after the prosecutor argued for 10 years, Baugh stated that the victim was “older than her chronological age” and that she was “probably as much in control of the situation as the defendant.”
The judge’s blaming a 14-year-old victim for the crime of a 49-year-old man outraged people in Billings and around the nation.
Two days later, Baugh apologized. He also determined that he erred in setting a sentence illegally low and attempted to resentence Rambold. However, the Montana Supreme Court majority stopped the resentencing because Baugh no longer had jurisdiction to change the sentence.
Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito and Attorney General Tim Fox initiated an appeal of the sentence. The most urgent response needed to this miscarriage of justice is an effective appeal.
But the matter of Baugh’s conduct also warrants further action. Even after apologizing for his sentencing remarks about the victim, Baugh again cited the girl’s statements as evidence that Rambold deserved a break.
In a “sentencing addendum” filed Aug. 29, Baugh cited the victim’s 2008 interview with police and her 2009 interview with the defense attorney as “relevant information” supporting a suspended sentence for Rambold.
As previously stated in this column: It doesn’t matter how Cherice Moralez characterized her contact with Rambold. She was a child, incapable of giving consent under Montana law. The crime is more egregious because Rambold violated his position of authority and trust as a public school teacher who had a duty to protect his student.
The judge’s thinking revealed in his own written and spoken words is evidence of bias against certain female victims. A judge cannot be effective if he is perceived as biased.
Elected in 1984
Until recently, Baugh has had a distinguished judicial career. He became a District Court judge in 1984 after winning a contested race for the new fifth judgeship. He has been re-elected without opposition four times to six-year terms.
A complaint filed last week with the Montana Judicial Standards Commission seeks to have Baugh removed from office. If the commission made such a recommendation, the Montana Supreme Court would make the final decision.
The outcome of that process is uncertain and slow.
End the tumult
Baugh can end the tumult. With 15 months left in his current term, now is the time for this 72-year-old judge to retire. We call on the judge to step down as soon as his successor can be appointed as provided by Montana law.
Gov. Steve Bullock soon will have the duty of appointing a new Yellowstone County District judge to replace Judge Susan Watters whose nomination to the federal bench awaits a vote in the U.S. Senate. If Baugh retires, we expect a large number of good applicants would step forward to fill two District Court seats. The candidates would be vetted by the Judicial Nomination Commission and the governor would make appointments from among the commission’s recommendations. Appointed District Court judges would have to run for election in November 2014.
Retirement now would be the most honorable conclusion for Baugh’s long judicial career.
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