Judge calls rapist a ‘good man’

Complaints are pouring in against a Utah judge who called a former Mormon bishop convicted of rape an ‘‘extraordinary, good man’’ who did something wrong, a Utah judicial oversight organisation said yesterday.

About 40 emails, six voicemails and some Facebook messages complaining about Judge Thomas Low have come in since late March, said Jennifer Yim, executive director of the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.

The complaints began after Low let Keith Robert Vallejo out of custody after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape.

But Yim said most of the complaints were filed after the Wednesday sentencing hearing when Low seemed emotional as he sentenced Vallejo to up to life in prison, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

‘‘The court has no doubt that Mr Vallejo is an extraordinary, good man,’’ Low said during the sentencing. ‘‘But great men sometimes do bad things.’’

One of Vallejo’s victims said she was shocked by the judge’s sympathy.

Low did not return a request for comment.

The female victim was 19 when she said Vallejo, a relative, groped her multiple times when she stayed at his house while attending Brigham Young University in 2013. A second victim told police that Vallejo raped and groped her w in 2014 when she was 17. The abuse occurred in Provo, a Mormon stronghold that is home to BYU.

There was no indication that Judge Low had any prior friendship or relationship with Vallejo, said Ryan McBride, the prosecutor. A judge would have to disclose something like that, McBride said.

McBride called Low’s comment inappropriate, and said they may have come in response to more than 50 character letters sent in about Vallejo.‘‘I don’t think it’s wrong to acknowledge the good things that someone has done in their lives,’’ said McBride. ‘‘But I think whenever you do that in a case like this, you’ve also got to say, but it doesn’t excuse what you’ve done.’’

Sexual assault victim advocates also expressed outrage over the comments.

‘‘The signal that it sends to sexual violence survivors is that if you choose to disclose, that we’re still going to treat your perpetrator as if they’re a good person,’’ Turner Bitton, executive director of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault.