Back in April, David Becker, then a senior at East Longmeadow High School in Massachusetts, was accused of sexually assaulting two classmates while they were unconscious. According to court documents, he was arraigned in Palmer District Court on two counts of rape and one count of indecent assault and battery on a person older than 14. Based on evidence, Hampden County Assistant District Attorney Eileen Sears reportedly recommended Becker be found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and battery and serve two years in prison. But on Monday, he was sentenced to two years of probation.
Thomas Rooke, who defended the 18-year-old Becker in court, was pleased with the ruling. “We all made mistakes when we were 17, 18, 19 years old, and we shouldn’t be branded for life with a felony offense and branded a sex offender,” he said. “Putting this kid in jail for two years would have destroyed this kid’s life.”
According to the terms of probation, Becker has to remain “drug and alcohol-free” for two years, and he’ll have to submit an evaluation for sex-offender treatment. He also has to stay away from the two 18-year-old girls he assaulted after a party. As long as he meets those terms, he won’t have to register as a sex offender, and the conviction won’t appear on his record.
The charges against Becker are based on events at a house party on April 2, where he and other students were drinking while a classmate’s parents were out of town. According to MassLive.com, the party ended around 11:30 p.m., and Becker and both victims volunteered to helped clean up:
After they finished, one of the victims said, both girls went into an upstairs bedroom — one requiring assistance walking up the stairs — and Becker later came in to talk, before they all fell asleep in the same bed. Each reported waking up to Becker sexually assaulting them.
In a text message to one of the victims the next day, Becker apologized for the assault, court records show. The victim responded with a text telling Becker “don’t even worry about it,” but later told police that she said this because “she did not know what else to say,” Ingalls’ police report states.
Rooke was quick to point out that Becker was a “three-sport athlete” at his high school and “clocked the second-most hours of community service in his class.” “Labeling him ‘David the Rapist’ is truly an unjust character assassination of what this individual has accomplished in the past,” he said. Sure, that’s what’s unjust about this story.
