In news out of America that is deeply unsettling, an Alaskan man who committed sexual assault and kidnapping will not serve any jail time after taking a plea deal.

Justin Schneider was arrested in August of 2017 after offering a woman a ride home from a service station. Mr Schneider then stopped off his SUV on the side of the road where he then asked the victim to get out of the vehicle to assist him in moving some items. Once she approached the read of the SUV, Mr Schneider tackled his victim to the ground and then choked her until she passed out. She told the court that during this time, her attacker told her that he was going to kill her and that despite her best efforts she could not fight him off and soon lost consciousness.

Mr Schneider masturbated and then ejaculated on his victim, offering her a tissue when she regained consciousness to clean herself up which was later recovered by police as evidence.

A grand jury indicted Mr Schneider on four felony counts but prosecutors offered him a chance to plead guilty to just one count of second-degree felony assault. This earned him a meagre two year incarceration sentence with one year suspended. Superior Court Judge Michael Corey who heard this case however allowed him credit for time served in home detention, which he served living with his family and instead will only serve three years’ probation.

Not only will Mr Schneider not serve any time in prison, but he will not be made to register as a sex offender either.

Alaskan Assistant District Attorney, Andrew Grannik, told the court and the media that he actively pushed for this plea deal as he believed that Mr Schneider had an otherwise clean slate and that he was a great candidate for positive rehabilitation over a term of incarceration. He also said that Mr Schneider had only just plead guilty to assaulting a woman on the side of the road, but that he was a gentleman who was being given “a pass”.

Mr Schneider told the court that he was grateful for the plea deal which “allowed him to really work on himself and become a better person, and a better husband and a better father..” The judge, on accepting this plea deal, told Mr Schneider that “this can never happen again”.

At Fractured Ceilings, we are absolutely horrified and left completely stunned. In the 12 months that followed the “Me Too” movement where we gave credence to victims, where we finally listened and believed survivors of sexual assault, to have such a decision where the perpetrator of a heinous sexual assault was allowed a pass, to get on with his life without consequence while the life of his victim is forever destroyed, this is unacceptable.

We take some solace that there is a movement to have Judge Corey removed from the bench much like there was to unseat the judge that delivered the decision in the notorious Brock Turner case.

This is not reflective of what is happening with society, this is not what we have all worked hard for and marched for and protested for. We demand better and we will keep using our voices to ensure that this assault, this contemptable plea deal and weak sentencing remarks from both the judge and the prosecutor never happens again. We say, not on our watch.