Montana District Judge G. Todd Baugh reads a statement apologizing for remarks he made about a 14-year-old girl raped by a teacher in Billings, Mont., on Aug. 28, 2013.
The Montana judge who handed down a light 30-day jail sentence to a teacher who admitted raping his 14 year old student apologized Wednesday for the “stupid” language he used.
Yellowstone County District Judge G. Todd Baugh had said that the 14-year old victim was “older than her chronological age” and “as much in control of the situation” as her teacher, Stacey Dean Rambold.
“It’s not probably the kind of rape most people think about,” he said as he sentenced the teacher. The teenage victim took her own life in 2010.
Baugh apologized for those words Wednesday, the Star Tribune reports, saying that he “fumbled around” and “made some really stupid remarks.” But defended the sentence as appropriate.
A petition demanding Baugh’s resignation already has almost 18,000 signatures, and a protest outside Yellowstone County Courthouse is scheduled for Thursday.