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Montana Rapist Freed After Serving 30-Day Sentence

Stacey Dean Rambold.
Montana Department of Corrections
Stacey Dean Rambold.

Update at 11:55 a.m. ET. Released:

The Montana Department of Corrections' website just changed the status of Stacey Dean Rambold to "sentence expired," which means the convicted rapist whose 14-year-old victim later committed suicide has now served the 30-day prison sentence that sparked national outrage.

Our original post picks up the story:

Stacey Dean Rambold, the Montana teacher who got sentenced to 30 days in jail for the 2007 rape of a 14-year-old student who later killed herself, is to be released from custody Thursday.

As we've reported, "District Judge G. Todd Baugh unleashed a firestorm of criticism when he issued the lenient sentence saying that the victim ... 'seemed older than her chronological age' " and that she supposedly had some control over the situation that led to her rape.

Baugh subsequently apologized. Montana's attorney general is appealing the sentence.

On Wednesday, the victim's mother said Rambold is "still skating" from justice, as The Associated Press reports. The wire service adds that:

"Tears streamed down Auliea Hanlon's face as she described the emotions that have at times overwhelmed her since a church counselor her daughter confided in first told Hanlon about the rape. ...

" 'I figured he'd be fired, go to jail, and she would be vindicated, and that would be the end of it,' Hanlon said Wednesday. 'Instead, here it is six years later, still going on, and he's getting out. ... He's still skating.' "

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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