'I am devastated': Victim's outrage as former Baylor fraternity president accused of violently raping 19-year-old student gets NO jail time and won't have to register as a sex offender in controversial plea deal
By Associated Press and Snejana Farberov
Daily Mail
December 10, 2018
A Texas judge on Monday accepted a controversial plea deal sparing a former Baylor University fraternity president accused of rape any jail time, prompting outrage from the victim and her parents.
Judge Ralph Strother signed off on the plea agreement for 24-year-old Jacob Walter Anderson, who was indicted on sexual assault charges and pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint.
A no contest plea means a defendant does not admit guilt, but will offer no defense.
The deal from prosecutors allowed Anderson to receive three years of deferred probation. The ex-Phi Delta Theta president agrees to seek counseling and pay a $400 fine.
He will not be forced to register as a sex offender.
The unnamed former Baylor student who accused Anderson of violently and repeatedly raping her at a party in 2015 said she was 'devastated' by the judge's decision and described the county's justice system as 'severely broken.'
An online petition had been created to oppose the plea bargain, which the woman said more than 85,000 people have signed.
According to court records, Anderson's accuser said she was at the Phi Delta Theta party on February 20, 2015, in South Waco when someone handed her a glass of punch and told her to drink it.
She said she soon became disoriented and that Anderson took her outside to a secluded area in the backyard so she could get some air, at which point he sexually assaulted her, according to police reports.
The woman lost consciousness and woke up alone in the same area, lying face down in her own vomit, reports indicate.
A friend later took her to the hospital for a sexual assault examination.
Anderson was expelled from Baylor following the private Christian university's investigation.
In her searing victim impact statement on Monday, Anderson's accuser, known only as Donna Doe, described her alleged rape at the hands of the fraternity president in graphic detail, saying that he repeatedly orally and vaginally penetrated her.
The then-19-year-old Baylor freshman said she was a virgin saving herself for marriage until that night, reported KVUE.
'I had no control over my body and no way to stop him,' the woman said of Anderson. 'When I collapsed on the ground he pulled down his pants and shoved his penis in my mouth and down my throat gagging me.
'When he forcefully picked me up and shoved me into a wall to rape me vaginally from behind he calmly and coldly said “It’s fine. You’re fine.”'
The woman told the court that after she lost consciousness, Anderson left her for dead in the dirt.
'He had taken what he wanted, had proven his power over my body. He then walked home and went to bed without a second thought to the ravaged, half dead woman he had left behind.’
The victim went on to say she believes that Anderson will go on to rape again, and slammed Assistant District Attorney Hillary LaBorde and McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna for letting ‘a rapist run free in society without any warning to future victims.’
Reyna, who was not present at Monday's hearing, later issued a statement defending the plea agreement.
‘The McLennan County District Attorney’s office is known throughout the state for our aggressive prosecution of sexual assault cases, to say otherwise is simply absurd,’ he said.
‘Let us remind everyone that our oath is to seek justice. In pursuit of that ideal, we must evaluate each case alone on its own merit. Early in this case, law enforcement believed that the victim may have been drugged and this belief has been widely disseminated in the media; however, the evidence did not support that theory.
‘This office stands by the plea offered and believes we have achieved the best result possible with the evidence at hand.’
KWTX reported that the victim and her family learned of the plea deal from an email sent by LaBorde, who explained her decision not to try the case against Anderson to trial by pointing to what she described as a ‘very similar’ case that she only recently lost at trial.
‘In light of the similarities between the cases, it’s my opinion it would be worse to try Anderson and lose and have the entire matter wiped from his criminal history than to accept this plea offer,’ LaBorde argued.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Unlawful restraint? In New York at least, they charge you with what rape really is … illegal entry.
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