Home United States USA — Criminal Man who raped 13-year-old gets probation; blindness cited as a factor

Man who raped 13-year-old gets probation; blindness cited as a factor

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Benjamin Lawrence Petty, pleaded guilty to tying up, raping and sodomizing a girl in 2016 at church camp where he was working as a cook.
An Oklahoma man who pleaded guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl was sentenced to 15 years probation and the prosecutor cited the man’s legally blind status as a “major factor” in the decision not to seek prison time, The Oklahoman reported Tuesday.
Benjamin Lawrence Petty pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing a girl in 2016 at church camp, where he was working as a cook, the paper reported. Petty tied the girl’s wrists with a rope and threatened to hurt her if she told anyone, according to the criminal charge.
Murray County Assistant District Attorney David Pyle said Petty’s blindness was a “major factor” in the sentence.
“The big thing is Mr. Petty is legally blind and the parents live out of state and this little girl lives out of state and didn’t want to make all the travels back and forth,” Pyle told The Oklahoman . “The plea was negotiated with their permission.”
Bruce Robertson, an attorney representing the victim’s family in a civil case, told the paper that the family did not object to Petty getting probation.
Petty pleaded guilty Jan. 19 to three felonies: first-degree rape, forcible sodomy and rape by instrumentation.

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