Court Refuses Leniency For Rapist Judge Rejects Arguments That 13-Year-Old Girl Consented

A Stevens County judge has refused to grant an 18-year-old rapist leniency, despite a Western Washington appeals court decision that threatens to turn the state’s statutory rape law on its head.

Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson rejected arguments Friday that Bassah Curd deserves a light sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl last July.

Curd’s attorney cited a 1995 Court of Appeals ruling that said another 18-year-old man was entitled to seek a sentence below the standard range because the 13-year-old victim consented to sex.

The appeals court said evidence in the Port Townsend, Wash., case showed the defendant did nothing to initiate sex with the girl. The court noted that the trial judge said the girl “was a willing participant and possibly even the one initiating the contact, and there was no harmful or ill effect on the victim herself.”

But Stevens County Prosecutor Jerry Wetle argued Friday that Curd initiated sexual contact with the victim at a church camp in the southern part of the county. Wetle also noted Curd’s prior record of two felonies and seven misdemeanors.

Although a probation officer recommended a minimum standard sentence of 15 months, Kristianson granted Wetle’s request for the 20-month maximum.

Wetle said he had already given Curd a break - a plea bargain that reduced the charge from second-degree child rape to third-degree child rape.

The prosecutor said the appellate decision contradicts the traditional wisdom that under-age girls are “jail bait” because consent is not a defense.

, DataTimes