Judge gives a "pass" to a man who strangled and sexually assaulted

A judge in Alaska faces negative reactions after releasing a man without a prison after pleading guilty to assaulting a woman. Justin Schneider from Anchorage was charged with abducting an Alaskan woman on August 15, 2017.

The victim told the police that 34-year-old Schneider had offered to visit an Anchorage petrol station in Muldoon, Alaska. Schneider presented himself as "Dan" and said that he knew the victim, but she denied meeting him, the APD inspector Brett Sarber wrote in the criminal complaint.

Judge Michael Corey, of the Superior Court of Anchorage, faces appeals to vote against his detention after allowing a man accused of sexual assault to serve no sentence of imprisonment. Google Maps

Instead of driving to Muldoon, Schneider drove in a different direction, parked his SUV and asked the victim to go out. Schneider then attacked him and told him that he was going to kill her.

"She said that she could not fight him, he was too heavy and had him suffocated to death," wrote Sarber. "[The victim] said that she lost consciousness, thinking that she was going to die. "

Schneider would have strangled her until she was unconscious and then masturbates on her, according to the court documents. When she woke up, he told her that he was not going to kill her but that she needed to believe that she would die "to be sexually satisfied".

He was charged with four counts of indictment. However, a plea agreement between his defense team and the state allowed him to plead guilty to criminal assault and not to be sentenced to prison, with a credit for time spent and probation.

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"But I would like the gentleman to be warned that this is his only pass," said prosecutor Andrew Grannik on Wednesday, according to the KTVA. "This is not really a pass, but considering the driving, one might consider that it is the case".

Judge Michael Corey agreed to the plea agreement, citing the possibility of a pardon. "It can never happen again," Corey told Schneider.

The judge's decision and Grannik's remarks were criticized as unfair. Sentencing has also attracted the attention of the Governor of Alaska, Bill Walker.

"This move by the prosecutor and the judge is absolutely obscene," said Keeley Olson, executive director of Standing Together Against Rape (STAR). Anchorage Daily News.

Corey's decision also triggered a Facebook campaign calling for a vote against his being a judge in the Nov. 6 poll. Elizabeth Williams, who has worked with STAR for five years, told the newspaper that she had created the Facebook page to highlight the epidemic of sexual assault in Alaska.

"This is another example of an Aboriginal woman from Alaska who does not get the justice she deserves," Williams said.

Governor Walker took the time to call for tougher laws against sexual assault.

"Every victim deserves justice. This type of result makes the task of the victims even more difficult. The sentence in this case does not correspond to the seriousness of the crime, "Walker said in a statement on Friday. "We must solve this problem immediately, and we will do it."

The Alaska Law Department supported Corey's decision and stated that the judge followed the law in rendering his sentence.