No prison for Colorado college student who ‘raped a helpless young woman'

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

No prison for Colorado college student who ‘raped a helpless young woman'

Austin Wilkerson avoids prison for sexual assault of intoxicated
woman, in case that echoes Stanford assault that sparked debate
about privilege and rape culture

Sam Levin in San Francisco
Wednesday 10 August 2016 22.29 BST

A University of Colorado student convicted of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman will not have to serve a prison sentence, a judge ruled on Wednesday with a decision that has sparked outrage from victims’ advocates and closely resembles the case of Stanford swimmer Brock Turner.

A jury convicted Austin James Wilkerson, 22, of sexually assaulting a “helpless” woman on 15 March 2014 when prosecutors say he “isolated and raped the half-conscious victim” after he had told his friends at a St Patrick’s Day celebration that he was going to take care of her.

Wilkerson – who eventually admitted that he “digitally and orally penetrated” the woman while he “wasn’t getting much of a response from her” – was potentially facing four to 12 years in state prison for the felony offense.

The law, however, gives judges discretion to issue lighter sentences, and in Boulder County court on Wednesday, district judge Patrick Butler ruled that the former student should not serve any time in state prison. Instead, he ordered Wilkerson to serve two years of so-called “work release” and 20 years to life on probation.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/10/university-of-colorado-sexual-assault-austin-wilkerson

[exboyfil]

1. The judge was a Hickenlooper appointee

His term comes up in 2021.