Women are coming for the judge who let Baylor ex-frat president accused of sexual assault off with no jail time

People are furious that another man got a light sentence for an alleged sexual assault — so they’re going after the judge who oversaw the case.

Texas judge Ralph Strother accepted a plea of “no contest" from Jacob Anderson, a Baylor University student, in early December. As a result, Anderson, then-president of the Phi Delta Theta frat, won’t spend any time in jail or have to register as a sex offender. Instead, he’ll only have pay a $400 fine and undergo counseling duration probation, after which his record will be expunged.

Numerous petitions denouncing Strother, also a graduate of Baylor, have accrued hundreds of thousands of signatures.

“When judges on benches see themselves reflected in the face of a perpetrator and recuse him of all responsibility, they will not feel a modicum of remorse due to their privilege of race and class,” reads one petition calling for Strother’s removal from the bench with 67,000 signatories.

An earlier petition that began circulating in October called for Strother to reject Anderson’s plea deal. It accrued 128,000 signatures.

“It’s been interesting because as divided as things are, the response that I’ve gotten has been the same across the board. It doesn’t matter if you are a hard core Democrat or hardcore Republican,” Erin Albin, a graduate student at Baylor who started the petition, told the Daily Beast.

Anderson was indicted on four counts of sexual assault after he allegedly raped a woman at a February 2016 frat party. Anderson’s accuser said that she regained consciousness shortly after the incident and found a friend inside the party to take her to the hospital, where she underwent an examination. Hospital officials then notified the police, and Baylor expelled Anderson.

“He stole my body, virginity, and power over my body, and you let him keep it for all eternity," the victim, whose name has not been released, said in an impact statement. "He is now free to roam society, stalk women and no one will know he is a sex offender."

Outrage over the case mirrors the response to the sentencing of Brock Turner, the ex-Stanford student who received just six months in jail (and served only three) after sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.

The judge overseeing that case, Aaron Persky, was successfully removed from the bench after petitions got a recall measure on the ballot in California. Texas, however, doesn’t hold judicial recall elections — and Strother told a local news station that he has no plans to resign ahead of 2020, when his term is up and he will retire.

Hilary LaBorde, the assistant district attorney who reached a plea deal with Anderson’s defense attorneys, released as statement defending Strother.

“Conflicting evidence and statements exist in this case making the original allegation difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” LaBorde said in a statement.

Plea bargains, which do not always require the defendants to admit guilt, aren’t at all unusual in the U.S. criminal justice system. They’re a way for prosecutors to guarantee a conviction. On the other hand, rape convictions aren’t common. Just five in every 1,000 resulting in a according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, the nation’s biggest anti-sexual violence organization.

Cover image: In this April 19, 2018 photo, State District Court Judge Ralph Strother leaves his courtroom at the McLennan County Courthouse in Waco, Texas. (Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald via AP)