Montana teacher resentenced to 10 years in prison for raping 14

PAUL RUHTER/AP

A former teacher was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday in a student rape case that became notorious after a previous judge partially blamed the victim.

Stacey Dean Rambold, 55, grimaced as Judge Randal Spaulding delivered the sentence and was led from the Montana courtroom by deputies.

The new punishment comes a year after he served an initial sentence of one month. Many thought this was far too lenient for a man who pleaded guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

Authorities say Rambold raped a 14-year-old female student in his business class at Billings Senior High School in 2007.

The teen girl, Cherice Moralez, committed suicide in 2010.

Larry Mayer/AP

Montana's Supreme Court overturned Rambold's earlier sentence in part because Judge G. Todd Baugh's suggested the high school freshman shared some of the blame for her rape. He also said she 'appeared older than her chronological age.'

Baugh's victim-blaming and lax sentence led to a one-month suspension and widespread condemnation. He will step down at the end of his term in January.

The outrage also revived the trial leading to Friday's sentence.

'No one can really appreciate and understand what it feels like to have so many people actually hate you and be disgusted by you,' Rambold wrote in a letter to the court. 'I do not mention this for the sake of sympathy, but it has been hard.'

Auliea Hanlon/via Facebook

Initially, Rambold could have avoided prison altogether if he abided by the terms of a plea agreement that was made largely because the prosecution did not have its primary witness, the victim.

The deal mandated that he not visit relatives' children without authorization or start a relationship with an adult woman without informing his counselor. He violated both.

'The last thing we want to do is sit here in the criminal justice system and say, 'What is the age?' It doesn't matter. Fourteen is way too young,' Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito said during the hearing. 'There has to be punishment. ... Punishment means prison.'

With News Wire Services

mwalsh@nydailynews.com