The California justice system fails once again.
A judge in Northern California sentenced 20-year-old Nolan Bruder, who drugged and raped his 16-year-old sister, to less than a year in jail.
Judge William Follett said that the "stigma" of the conviction, along with the mandatory sex offender registration, would be enough to deter Bruder.
Bruder, from Crescent City, pleaded guilty to charges of rape of an intoxicated person earlier this month.
He gave his sister high potency marijuana, known as dabs, which affected her so much that she no longer recognized Bruder as her brother.
Del Norte District Attorney Dale P. Trigg said in a statement:
"In a lot of ways, this case is more egregious than Brock Turner. This defendant took advantage of a position of trust as this victim’s big brother. He knew she didn’t want to have sex with him. She told him that repeatedly. So he got her stoned on dabs he gave her until she didn’t even recognize him in order get what he wanted.”
Today Judge Follett sentenced Bruder to three years, but he will really only serve 240 days because the rest will be probation.
When asked about Follett's "stigma" remark, Trigg said:
"I could not disagree more. The message that this sends to our community is that sexual predators who get their juvenile siblings stoned enough can have sex with them without any meaningful consequence. That is not the message I want to send to our community.”
Del Norte District Attorney Dale Trigg joined us this afternoon to discuss this disgusting sentence: