Judge Michael Fetsch gave a rapist a year in the "workhouse" along with a list of children he could continue to have contact with, reports the Star Tribune.
Cory A. Leyde, 23, was convicted of forcibly raping a 15 year-old girl
outside the State Fair last year. The girl immediately told her friends
and was taken to the hospital.
But Leyde's defense lawyers say he had his reasons, reports the Pioneer
Press. "He's an otherwise good kid who did something really stupid,"
said public defender David Paulzine. "He has a drinking problem, and
his dad was dying of cancer."
That was apparently good enough for Fetsch. According to the Star
Tribune, the judge stayed a prison sentence in favor of a year in the
"workhouse." Fetsch also barred Leyde from having contact with minors,
with minor exceptions: "his own child, his sister's soon-to-be-born
child and teenage employees and customers at the Jimmy John's sandwich
shop where Leyde works."
Leyde was prosecuted under Minnesota's criminal sexual conduct laws (see here , here and here ),
which offer rapists preferential treatment if doing so is declared "in
the best interest of the complainant or the family unit." The law effectively decriminalizes incest against children and will be the target
of a PROTECT campaign in 2010 . Leyde was convicted of third degree criminal sexual conduct, which does not require prison time, regardless of familial relation.
Leyde has previous convictions in Washington County for domestic assault, say news reports.
Email Sign-Up
The PROTECT Lobby
Our Mission
The National Association to Protect Children is a national, pro-child, anti-crime membership association. We are founded on the belief that our first and most sacred obligation as parents, citizens, and members of the human species is the protection of children from harm.
PROTECT is a bipartisan pro-child, anti-crime lobby whose sole focus is making the protection of children a top political and policy priority at the national, state and local level.
