catlover79
04-28-2010, 06:55 PM
http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-medina-ohio-judge-doubles-rapist-sentence,0,5019218.story
Kevin Freeman Fox 8 News Reporter
5:42 PM EDT, April 27, 2010
MEDINA, Ohio - A man is sent to prison for a crime so heinous that the judge almost doubles the sentence that prosecutors had suggested.
Billy Tingler, 41, is serving 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a 16-year-old mentally challenged girl. Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier handed down the sentence Monday. It's nearly double the time that even prosecutors had recommended.
"If any of them had come to me and said, 'Hey judge, we're looking at a 20-year sentence for these two offenses. What do you think?' I would have told them I would not go along with it. That is not a sentence that is fair and just under the circumstances of this case, not even close," Judge Collier said.
Prosecutors say that last August, Tingler blindfolded his girlfriend's teenage daughter, took her to a run-down, abandoned farm house in the county where he brutally raped her.
"He took advantage of her, fooled her into thinking that her friend would meet her there the first time and tried to indicate during the attack that it was her friend doing it at one point," Medina County prosecutor Dean Holman said.
The terrified girl didn't tell anyone, but prosecutors say a few weeks later, Tingler did it again, saying he thought she might like it the second time.
"[She] was begging for him to stop and crying for him to stop, and according to his statement, screaming for him to stop," the judge said.
Prosecutors recommended a 22-year sentence, but are pleased with the judge's actions.
"Twenty-two years is not giving someone a break. The sentence we recommended is on the higher end of sentences here," Holman said.
Defense attorney Ronald Spears told Fox 8 by phone that he "thought 22 years was reasonable in light of other similar cases in Medina County."
"You get the sense of what's taken from her, so significantly that it was, I believe, the most horrific sexual crime that I've ever encountered," said Judge Collier.
Prosecutors say it is not uncommon for a judge to give a sentence that is higher or lower than their recommendation.
Judge Collier says what makes this case worse is that, even though the victim is 16, she has the mental capacity of a 9-year-old.
Kevin Freeman Fox 8 News Reporter
5:42 PM EDT, April 27, 2010
MEDINA, Ohio - A man is sent to prison for a crime so heinous that the judge almost doubles the sentence that prosecutors had suggested.
Billy Tingler, 41, is serving 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a 16-year-old mentally challenged girl. Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier handed down the sentence Monday. It's nearly double the time that even prosecutors had recommended.
"If any of them had come to me and said, 'Hey judge, we're looking at a 20-year sentence for these two offenses. What do you think?' I would have told them I would not go along with it. That is not a sentence that is fair and just under the circumstances of this case, not even close," Judge Collier said.
Prosecutors say that last August, Tingler blindfolded his girlfriend's teenage daughter, took her to a run-down, abandoned farm house in the county where he brutally raped her.
"He took advantage of her, fooled her into thinking that her friend would meet her there the first time and tried to indicate during the attack that it was her friend doing it at one point," Medina County prosecutor Dean Holman said.
The terrified girl didn't tell anyone, but prosecutors say a few weeks later, Tingler did it again, saying he thought she might like it the second time.
"[She] was begging for him to stop and crying for him to stop, and according to his statement, screaming for him to stop," the judge said.
Prosecutors recommended a 22-year sentence, but are pleased with the judge's actions.
"Twenty-two years is not giving someone a break. The sentence we recommended is on the higher end of sentences here," Holman said.
Defense attorney Ronald Spears told Fox 8 by phone that he "thought 22 years was reasonable in light of other similar cases in Medina County."
"You get the sense of what's taken from her, so significantly that it was, I believe, the most horrific sexual crime that I've ever encountered," said Judge Collier.
Prosecutors say it is not uncommon for a judge to give a sentence that is higher or lower than their recommendation.
Judge Collier says what makes this case worse is that, even though the victim is 16, she has the mental capacity of a 9-year-old.