Woman who accused man of rape outraged he got no jail time
DALLAS (AP) — A Texas judge on Monday accepted a plea bargain allowing a former Baylor University student accused of raping a woman at a fraternity party to avoid serving jail time, marking at least the third time the judge has approved probation for men accused of sexually assaulting Baylor students.
Judge Ralph Strother’s decision to accept the plea deal sparked outrage from the woman who accused Jacob Walter Anderson of repeatedly raping her. The woman says she was plied with a drink of punch at the party in 2016 and became disoriented. Anderson, the woman said, led her behind a tent and assaulted her while she was gagged and choked.
“He stole my body, virginity and power over my body,” the woman said in court, according to a family spokesman.
Anderson had been indicted on sexual assault charges and the deal allowed him to plead no contest to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint. A no contest plea means a person does not admit guilt, but will offer no defense. Anderson was expelled from Baylor after a university investigation.
The deal allows Anderson to receive deferred probation. The ex-Phi Delta Theta president agrees to seek counseling and pay a $400 fine. Anderson will not be forced to register as a sex offender. The woman told authorities she was assaulted until she lost consciousness and police reported Anderson left her alone. Police said she had vomited on herself and could have choked to death in the backyard.
She has not been named and The Associated Press generally does not naming possible victims of sexual assault. “I not only have to live with his rape and the repercussions of the rape, I have to live with the knowledge that the McLennan County justice system is severely broken,” the family statement quoted the woman as saying. “I have to live with the fact that after all these years and everything I have suffered, no justice was achieved.”