A Massachusetts student accused of raping two unconscious 18-year-olds will not face jail time or have to register as a sex offender.
David Becker was sentenced to two years of probation by a judge in Palmer who said that his case would be continued without a finding until August 2018.
The 18-year-old will not have to register as a sex offender, but will receive an evaluation for sex offender treatment, according to MassLive.com
Becker had been accused of sexually assaulting the two classmates at East Longmeadow High with his finger after a house party in April.
The two victims said that they fell asleep in the same bed before each waking up to Becker assaulting them.
A police report seen by WWLP said that he denied touching one of the young women and thought that what he did to the other victim was fine because she did not stop him.
The allegations eventually found their way to a police officer at East Longmeadow, and prosecutors recommended two years in prison after charging him with rape.
One of the victims said that she had heard of Becker assaulting others and being called “David the Rapist,” according to MassLive, though the teen’s lawyer denied both allegations.
“We all made mistakes when we were 17, 18, 19 years old, and we shouldn’t be branded for life with a felony offence and branded a sex offender,” Attorney Thomas Rooke told MassLive.com.
The lawyer also brought attention to the fact that his client was a three-sport athlete, did community service and wants to go on to have “a college experience.”
Becker’s sentence is not the first to garner national attention for perceived leniency towards a young man accused of sexual assault.
In June former Stanford student Brock Turner was sentenced to six months for sexually assaulting a woman behind a dumpster, which led protesters to call for Judge Aaron Persky’s ouster.
