No prison for grandson of ex-Virginia governor in rape case
Stephen Dalton Baril, a former University of Virginia student accused of raping another student, entered an Alford plea on Friday and will not serve any prison time.
As a part of the Alford plea — which is used when a defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict them while they maintain innocence — Baril’s initial charges of felony rape and felony sodomy were reduced to misdemeanor sexual battery and felony unlawful wounding, respectively.
The maximum prison sentence Baril could have faced was five years, all of which Judge Humes J. Franklin suspended. Baril will be on supervised probation for five years and is not allowed to have any contact with the victim or key witnesses.
If the case had gone to trial with the initial charges, Baril would have faced a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years.
Baril, 21, the grandson of a former Virginia governor, initially faced charges of rape and sodomy after a young woman — identified in court as M.H. — told police she was raped by him on the night of Jan. 31 and into the early morning hours of Feb. 1, 2017.
Read more: https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/crime/no-prison-for-ex-uva-student-in-rape-case/article%E2%80%9496e7a50e-91f7-11e8-ae93-a377469c48c3.html
Baril is the grandson of John Dalton, a Republican who served as governor from 1978 to 1982. His father, Steve Baril, is a Republican who ran unsuccessfully in 2005 for attorney general.
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