A Kansas judge is facing backlash for describing two girls, ages 13 and 14, as the "aggressor" after a 67-year-old man was convicted of soliciting one of them for sex.
According to the Kansas City Star, Leavenworth County District Judge Michael Gibbens made the controversial comments in December before he sentenced Raymond Soden, 67, to more than five years in prison – less than half the time prosecutors had sought.
"I do find that the victims in this case, in particular, were more an aggressor than a participant in the criminal conduct," Gibbens said at the time, according to the Star. "They were certainly selling things monetarily that it's against the law for even an adult to sell."
Soden's attorney claimed that the teens "tried to have someone rob Soden and that their older sister had been the one who arranged for them to meet Soden," the Star reported. They went to his home voluntarily and accepted payment for sex acts, the judge said.
"I wonder what kind of trauma there really was to this victim under those peculiar circumstances," Gibbens said, according to the newspaper.
Gibbens said he also considered Soden's low intellect, health and age while determining his sentence.
Child advocates slammed Gibbens' comments.
"Sexual assault is never the victim's fault," Michelle Herman, president and CEO of the Sunflower House, told the Star. "It doesn't matter what the girls did or didn't do, he is still the adult and nobody deserves to be taken advantage of sexually."
Other critics shared their outrage on social media. See some of their comments below:
Prosecutors are still deciding whether to pursue an appeal, the Star reported.
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