Prosecutor offered probation to Baylor fraternity president accused of sexual assault in 2016
WACO -- Two months after a former Baylor University fraternity president was indicted on charges he sexually assaulted another student in 2016, a prosecutor offered him probation without informing the alleged victim or her family until the plea offer was turned down.
An attorney for the woman and her parents filed a notice in court this week objecting to a subsequent plea bargain offered to Jacob Walter Anderson that includes deferred probation on a reduced charge and no sex offender registration. They are urging 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother to reject the plea agreement and send the case to trial.
Anderson had been set to plead no contest Sept. 10 to a reduced charge of unlawful restraint in exchange for prosecutor Hilary LaBorde’s promise to drop four sexual assault counts and to recommend deferred probation and counseling. Anderson would not be required to register as a sex offender under the terms of the plea agreement.
His plea date was postponed this week because of high-profile trials that were set that day and to accommodate the victim’s family, who live in California and who want to be in court. A new plea date has not been rescheduled.
Read more: https://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/prosecutor-offered-probation-to-baylor-fraternity-president-in/article_d78b0cf4-c96b-5476-a7e2-4bdddef5fd5c.html
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The accused. Make no mistake, all are innocent until proven guilty, but the standard sure seems to shift depending on the defendant’s, um, “persuasion.”
