N.Y. Judge sparks outrage for no jail time in rape sentence [View all]

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York judge who stoked social media outrage for sentencing a former school bus driver to probation in the rape of a 14-year-old is getting “numerous vitriolic” phone calls, court officials said Tuesday.

Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky last week sentenced Shane Piche to 10 years of probation, sparking an online wave of condemnation from people arguing that the punishment was too lenient. The 26-year-old was accused of raping the teenager at his residence in Watertown, New York, last summer. Piche, who was a bus driver in the victim’s school district, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in February.

Piche also was required to register as a Level 1 sex offender, the lowest of three categories based on the risk of another offense.

State court spokesman Lucian Chalfen wrote in an email:
the judge was “well within” the sentencing range for this type of negotiated plea conviction.
The maximum state prison time he could have received would have been from 1 1/3 to 4 years.

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