BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Montana Supreme Court has denied a former teacher’s request to reconsider a ruling that’s likely to send him back to prison to serve more time for the rape of a 14-year-old student.
Attorneys for Stacey Dean Rambold had asked the court for a new hearing to press their case that the one month he already served in Montana State Prison was sufficient.
Rambold pleaded guilty last year to a single count of sexual intercourse assault without consent. The judge who sentenced him drew widespread condemnation for suggesting the victim shared some responsibility for her rape.
The high court in April ruled that Rambold’s original sentence was illegal under a state law that says he should have served a minimum of two years.
Rambold has been free since completing his sentence last fall. A new judge will resentence him.
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Isn’t there something in the constitution about “double jeopardy”? Once a person has been tried, convicted, sentenced, and has served his sentence, the state doesn’t get another crack at him for the same crime.