Posted on 04/24/2015 12:57:08 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Montana judge who was censured by the state's high court for his comments about a 14-year-old rape victim has been chosen for a lifetime achievement award by his local bar association.
Yellowstone Area Bar Association President Jessica Fehr said Thursday that former state District Judge G. Todd Baugh of Billings was chosen for the award by the group's board of directors.
Baugh, 73, sparked widespread outrage in 2013 over comments suggesting that a 14-year-old girl shared some responsibility for her rape by a teacher. Baugh sentenced former teacher Stacey Rambold to just one month in prison in the case.
Baugh said during Rambold's sentencing that the teenager was "probably as much in control of the situation as the defendant" and that she "appeared older than her chronological age."
The girl's mother, Auleia Hanlon, stormed out of the courtroom yelling, "You people suck!" the Billings-Gazette reported.
After prosecutors appealed, Rambold was re-sentenced in September and is serving 10 years in Montana State Prison. Rambold is appealing the sentence. The victim had killed herself before the case went to trial.
Baugh, who served almost 30 years as a state judge, stepped down last year after being censured by the Montana Supreme Court for his comments and suspended from the bench for 31 days.
He told The Associated Press on Thursday that he didn't know who nominated him for the achievement award. He also repeated his assertion that media reports about the rape case had not told the whole story.
"I'm not trying to say I didn't make any mistakes. If you go into all the mistakes that were made, it would give a better-balanced report," Baugh said.
Fehr said Baugh had been nominated for the award by members of the bar association, but she declined to say who that was or why he was chosen.
Marian Bradley, Northwest regional director for the National Organization for Women, said the award was inappropriate given Baugh's conduct on the bench. Regardless of his prior accomplishments, Bradley said the Rambold case cannot be overlooked.
"The last chapter in his career, he put himself out there and did not protect a young girl and did not protect a community," Bradley said. "Giving him a lifetime achievement award is going to send people into tailspins."
Despite the embarrassment Baugh brought on the Montana judiciary, at least some colleagues stuck by him. In December, state District Judge Russell Fagg wrote in a column for the Billings Gazette that Baugh handled more than 30,000 cases in his career.
"He has made thousands of good calls, and a few bad calls, as have all of us," Fagg wrote. "Bottom line: Baugh is a wonderful person."
disgusting
As far as I'm concerned, it's despicable!
“District Judge Russell Fagg”
His last name doesn’t seem right.
These life time achievement awards, like the one in Wisconsin in the John Doe cases, are predictable. These old judges and sometimes lawyers spend decades going to meetings and sucking up to everyone. They have a lot of power. In our community everyone loved a federal judge. He had been a power lawyer, then a district court judge, then an appellate judge and then federal. He had everything going for him. They his wife got sick and he went home and shot her and then killed himself. Now there is an Inn of Court named after him and get this, a collegiality award. How do you name a collegiality award after someone who committed murder?
probably accurate too
That’s nice. A bottom-feeding, scum-sucking judge getting an award from some bottom-feeding, scum-sucking lawyers. They sure stick together, don’t they?
“...and a few bad calls”
Yeah, saying that a child is responsible for her rape is worse than just “bad”. That’s straight-up despicable.
And the poor girl committed suicide. Even if she was not raped, she was not emotionally mature enough to make the decision to have sex.
I’d expect this in CA or MA but MT!
Every state has lawyers, and most lawyers are scum.
First judge Kluka in Wisconsin and now this.
Is the legal profession giving the American people the finger?
I think they are, I think they have been for a long time.
I think judges go light on stuff they’re likely to do themselves. Drunk driving, for example. This judge is probably a bit of a jailbait hound.
A person is not defined by a single action - except in the courtroom of public opinion which, coincidentally, is also the place populated by those who know the least about him.
Yeah, saying that a child is responsible for her rape...
I’ll add that when you think about what he DID say, I remember coming across a few 14 year old girls in my teens that would give a 25 year old man (especially a very sexually immature one) a run for his money.
I’m not saying that is what happened here (I have no knowledge of the particular case) but speaking academically, the judges comments could, in some cases, have merit.
I seriously doubt that. Baugh’s judgment was not merely a “bad” call. It demonstrated utter contempt for the child victim and the law against rape. Someone who could do what this judge did is nothing short of evil. If he could essentially give the sexual predator a pass on this case, I seriously doubt that his sense of justice was functioning normally for the rest of the vast majority of the rest of the cases he handled.
Regarding the "Baugh is a wonderful person" comment, it reminds me of the video clips I have seen of Hitler and his henchmen enjoying their families. Looking at these videos you wouldn't conclude that they were moral monsters. But they were. Baugh and his buddy Judge Russell Fagg, and the rest of their good old boy network appear to be moral monsters as well.
As an aside, feminists and feminism has neutralized the natural 'fight or flight' in young women.
"You can do anything you want and you not are responsible for your actions" is the mantra .
So, walk down to the nearest darkly lit ATM, scantily dressed, because that is your right. And if you are attacked/raped/murdered, it isn't your fault because all men are border line rapists.
If you warn your male neighbor of the dangers of the darkly lit ATM, he will thank you warmly. If you warn your female neighbor, you are a sexist pig and "no man will tell me where and where not to go. You men are the problem." OK, good luck with that.
Every time a librarian gets raked over the coals for permitting people to view porn on library computers, you can be sure of one thing. That librarian will be the state librarian of the year in the following year.
Well said.
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