Things were supposed to change for Auliea Hanlon. The teacher who raped her 14-year-old daughter was sentenced to just 30 days in jail by a judge who had the audacity to pin some of the blame on the child for her assault. But a public outcry was supposed to help. It hasn't. Stacey Rambold walks out of jail today a free man ... he's only been in there for 30 days.
It's been six years since the 2007 rape of Cherice Moralez. The child is dead -- she committed suicide in 2010, a victim of bullying after the details of her sexual assault became public. And after six years, Auliea Hanlon feels like nothing is going to change.
She says Stacey Rambold is "skating justice."
Can you blame her?
District Judge G. Todd Baugh handed down this ridiculous sentence back in August, and since then there's been a formal complaint against him lodged with the state of Montana's Judicial Standards Commission.
But that will take time. Too much time.
There's also an appeal of Rambold's sentence, but even that could take six to 18 months to work its way through the Montana Supreme Court.
That's too much time. Too much when you consider it's already been six years since this little girl was hurt, six years of waiting for justice and getting ... 30 days?
Meanwhile, a rapist, a man convicted of raping a 14-year-old child, a TEACHER who should have had the best interests of children at heart, walks free today.
The wheels of justice grind slowly -- at least that's how the saying goes. But at what point does all this time make justice almost moot? What's just about a mom waiting to hear if maybe, possibly, the man who raped her child will finally get more than a slap on the wrist?
Can you believe they let Stacey Rambold out of prison? How long should he be in there?
Image via Billings Police Department