Dallas County's district attorney plans to ask a new court for tighter probation restrictions on Tuesday for an admitted, convicted rapist.
District Attorney Craig Watkins has been granted a hearing in the case of Sir Young, a former gifted and talented student at DISD’s Booker T. Washington High School.
Young admitted raping a 14-year-old female classmate in one of the school’s band rooms in 2011.
Young, who was an 18-year-old senior at the time, apologized for his actions and admitted wrongdoing.
During court, it was brought out that Young and his victim were acquaintances who had discussed having a sexual relationship.
“She told him no, he proceeded anyway and as a result had sexual intercourse with her. After it was over, he apologized, gave a statement to police admitting what he did was wrong,” said Scottie Allen, Young’s attorney.
Allen said his client, committed, admitted and immediately apologized for his crime.
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District Judge Jeanine Howard sentenced Young to 45 days in jail and five years of deferred adjudication.
The sentence means that while Young will be a registered sex offender the rest of his life, his criminal record could be erased if he completes the terms of his court ordered probation - a probation status where the critics said many of the core terms were waived.
Those terms include evaluations to determine a course of rehabilitation, a prohibition on the use of pornography and submitting to polygraph exams.
Young has been ordered to spend the night in jail on the anniversary date of his offense each year for the duration of his probation and to perform 250 hours of community service at the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center.
"If anyone was deserving of a second chance, that was this kid here,” said Allen.
Allen said there was nothing unlawful about his client’s sentencing, but a few excerpts from the Judge’s interview about her reasoning in sentencing has led to international headlines, blurring the lines between punishment and justice.
"It’s an inappropriate place for a sex offender to be,” said executive director of the Rape Crisis Center and former prosecutor, Bobbie Villareal. "We’re back in the stone ages with this case because we’re definitely looking at her past in a negative light.”
Judge Howard’s critics said the idea of Young working near rape victims is insulting, but they’ve reserved their harshest words for the judge’s explanation of Young’s sentence during an interview with the Dallas Morning News.
"She said that the young lady had been pregnant and that was not true, she said the young lady had three or four partners before which was not true,” said Watkins, who likened Judge Howard’s comments to blaming the victim.
Howard has recused herself from the case, another judge will hear the district attorney’s appeal for stronger terms to Young’s probation.
In the meantime, the victim’s mother told NBC 5 partners at The Dallas Morning News she plans to file a formal complaint with the State Commission for Judicial Conduct on Howard.
The commission has broad powers to either dismiss the complaint or recommend suspension of Howard.
