U.S.
Al Jazeera
An Indianapolis woman said she is appalled that a judge gave her ex-husband no prison time for raping her while she was asleep, or possibly unconscious from being drugged, while they were married.
Mandy Boardman told Al Jazeera’s John Siegenthaler in an interview late Tuesday that she felt “dumbfounded” by the punishment that Marion County Judge Kurt Eisgruber gave her ex-husband, David Wise, on Friday: eight years in home detention and a 12-year suspended sentence.
Wise, 52, was convicted last month of one count of rape and five counts of criminal deviate conduct. Each count normally carries a sentence of six to 20 years in prison, and prosecutors had sought a 40-year prison term.
Boardman said she and her two children almost celebrated when the conviction was handed down, thinking their longtime fears would be gone. "Then the sentencing was read and we realized the battle was just beginning," she said.
During the reading of the sentence, the judge told Boardman she needed to forgive her attacker and move on. “When I heard that, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” she said.
“Then he proceeded to tell my attacker that he was going home that day. I was just dumbfounded,” she added.
Boardman testified that in 2008 she found three sex videos of herself on Wise's cellphone, but that she did not remember the sex or consenting to the videos. She said she once woke up with a pill dissolving in her mouth.
Boardman, who was married to Wise for 12 years until their 2009 divorce, said she made a DVD copy of the videos and went to police with them in 2011.
Wise's attorney, Elizabeth Milliken, told The Indianapolis Star that Wise intends to appeal his conviction. She declined to comment further about the case.
Eisgruber declined to comment on his sentencing decision because of the planned appeal.
Wise has no previous felony convictions, according to the Marion County prosecutor's office. He has been convicted of battery, public indecency and driving while intoxicated, all of which are misdemeanors.
Wise, who spent 24 days in jail following his arrest, no longer has visitation rights for the couple's son and daughter.
Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Courtney Curtis said prosecutors sought a sentence that included prison time.
“We know that rape between married couples happens. It’s just not as reported as other crimes. But rape is a crime that isn’t as reported as property crimes, for instance,” she said.
“Something like this is particularly egregious and it does make it very unusual,” said Curtis. “The audacity of this particular defendant is not something we usually see.”
Boardman said she plans to work with organizations and advocates to help other rape victims.
“I want things to be different,” she said. “I don’t want a rapist to have the opportunity to get home detention after being convicted of six felonies. I want them to serve a mandatory prison sentence where they belong.”
“Truly, I think he should spend as many years as he can possibly get,” she said. “I’m going to have the spend the rest of my life with this popping into my head, and looking over my shoulder wondering if he is there.”
Al Jazeera and wire services
Nationwide about 400,000 rape kits remain untested, according to the Department of Justice.
Just because a rape victim chooses to identify herself does not mean news organizations should necessarily follow suit.
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