Thanks to an amiable judge, a former Massachusetts high school athlete will get to avoid serving jail time and registering as a sex offender after he was charged with sexually assaulting two unconscious women during a house party.
David Becker, 18, was charged with two counts of rape and one count of “indecent assault and battery” in connection with an incident at a house party on April 2. This Monday, Palmer District Court Judge Thomas Estes gave Becker just 2 years probation.
During his probation stint, Becker must avoid drugs and alcohol, submit to an evaluation for sex offender treatment and keep his distance from the two victims, who are both 18-years-old. In addition, he’ll be able to serve out his sentence in Ohio where he plans to attend college.
“He can now look forward to a productive life without being burdened with the stigma of having to register as a sex offender,” said his attorney, Thomas Rooke. “The goal of this sentence was not to impede this individual from graduating high school and to go onto the next step of his life, which is a college experience.”
According to a report from MassLive.com, the allegations surfaced when a fellow student told a school resource officer about a rumor circulating that Becker had sexually assaulted two senior girls while they were intoxicated at a party the previous weekend.
The run-up to the assault began when Becker, the victims and another friend, stuck around and helped clean up after the party.
After they finished, one of the victims said, both girls went into an upstairs bedroom — one requiring assistance walking up the stairs — and Becker later came in to talk, before they all fell asleep in the same bed. Each reported waking up to Becker sexually assaulting them.
“We all made mistakes when we were 17, 18, 19 years old, and we shouldn’t be branded for life with a felony offense and branded a sex offender,” Rooke said. “Putting this kid in jail for two years would have destroyed this kid’s life.”
Watch a report on the story from WWLP in the video below:
Featured image via WWLP
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