6 teenage baseball players who took plea deals in South Dakota rape case sentenced

MITCHELL, SD — Six teenage players on a South Dakota American Legion baseball team who were charged as adults in a rape case last summer have been sentenced to fines and community service after accepting a plea agreement.

A judge sentenced former Mitchell Legion players, Sioux Falls’ KELO-TV reportedThey both pleaded guilty to being accomplices to a crime as part of a settlement proposal earlier this year.

Prosecutors say the teenage suspects, born between 2004 and 2006, raped a teammate during a baseball trip to Rapid City last year.

“What happened to the victim in this case is unacceptable,” said Roxanne Hammond of the Pennington County District Attorney’s Office. “It wasn’t just hazing; it was rape.”

The Pennington County District Attorney’s Office had requested 10 days in jail for the former players, but Presiding Judge Robert Gusinsky stayed the imposition of that sentence and instead placed the defendants on probation.

Gusinsky said the victim asked that the suspects not go to jail or register as sex offenders.

The suspects apologized in court, KELO-TV reported. Two cried as they said they were ashamed of the damage they caused, the station said.

The defendants’ lawyers did not immediately respond to telephone calls and voicemail messages from the Associated Press seeking comment on Friday.

During the verdict, the judge also spoke out against the parents who he said laughed when they heard about the incident, and others who grinned when footage of the attack was played in the courtroom.