Stating that a major violation of trust had occurred, District Court Judge Don Courtney sentenced Iowa blogger and self-proclaimed male feminist Kyle Payne to serve time in the Buena Vista County Jail for invasion of privacy.
Payne received 360 days, with 180 days suspended on each of two counts of invasion of privacy, a serious misdemeanor charge. He was also given one year of probation on each count. On the charge of 2nd degree attempted burglary, a felony, Payne received an indeterminate term of prison not to exceed five years, with incarceration suspended. He will placed on probation for three years.
In addition, under a new portion of Iowa law that involves sexually-related crimes, Payne was given a 10 year period of parole. That sentence begins at the end of his regular term of probation. Because of the nature of his crime, he will not be required to register as a sex offender in the state of Iowa.
Payne was arrested in February and pleaded guilty in June to two counts of invasion of privacy, a serious misdemeanor, and one count of 2nd degree attempted burglary, a felony. The charges stemmed from an incident in 2007 when Payne was a dormitory resident at Buena Vista University and, during the course of his duties, secretly photographed a young woman’s breasts.
“This is the type of thing that happens, but not to you,” said the victim as she read a pre-prepared impact statement in court today. “… You might be given jail time, but for me this is like a life sentence.”
She added that since she was unconscious, Payne is the only person who truly knows what happened that night and left the implication hanging that there might have been more to the event than him partially undressing her, touching her inappropriately and shooting photographs and video.
The victim’s mother, who also provided an impact statement in court, said that the incident had “crushed the spirit of her daughter” and has fractured her ability to trust others.
“You are a sick young man,” the mother said. “I think you’ve done this before and will do it again. Our family does not accept your apology. We do not care about your self-inflicted suffering. You reap what you sow.”
Quoting repeatedly from Payne’s most recent blog post and pointing to what he described as a “narcistic” tendancies, Buena Vista County Attorney Dave Patton requested the court sentence Payne to prison.
“[His blog post] indicates that he believes this is not all about the victim,” Patton said. “He believes it is all about him.”
F. Montgomery Brown, who served as Payne’s attorney, argued for a deferment while documenting how “the blogosphere lit into” Payne.
“Why was this kid so sensational?” Brown asked the court. “Because he made a spectacle of himself, in part. … But being a hypocrite is not a sentencing factor.”
Several feminist bloggers have written about the case because Payne had been so public with not only his feminist leanings, but his advocacy on behalf of victims of rape and sexual assault.
“He can’t be penalized for exercising his Constitutional rights,” Brown said of the blog post. “Frankly, I’m asking the court to be creative.”
Payne spoke briefly in his own defense, apologizing to the victim and her family and promising “to make changes in my life so it doesn’t happen again.” He then sobbed openly.
Judge Courtney, acknowledging his sentence as a compromise that would please no one, said he opted for county jail time instead of a prison term because of the both Payne’s age and the fact that he had no prior criminal record. One of the conditions of his probation will be to follow the directions of the correctional team, including continued therapy and counseling.
Payne was given one week to place his affairs in order before he will relinquish himself to the Buena Vista County Jail.
Man, even his attorney thinks the feminist blogosphere was attacking him. Psh, please. But this asshole rapist asshole is going to jail for six months! And he absolutely deserves it! I’m a little disappointed that he doesn’t have to register as a sex offender, but hopefully this jail sentence will help him figure out ways not to victimize any more women and he won’t be a sex offender anymore. I’m not keeping my hopes up that high, but I’m hoping a little.
I still feel so, so hurt for the woman and for her family. Can you imagine how horrible it would be to see this asshole sobbing in the courtroom? Blubbering about making life changes and apologizing to get out of doing time? I bet it was all she could do to keep from strangling him. Kyle Payne disgusts me, and I’ve never even met him.
Others writing about this:
- Hoyden About Town
- bastard logic
- Questioning Transphobia
- The Jaded Hippy
- The Curvature
- The F-Word
- Feministe
- The Partial Muse
- fantasyecho
- Debi Crow
- Un-Cool
- Solar-Powered Record Players
Now I’m off to school for teh realz!
[...] UPDATE: August 25th, Kyle Payne sentenced to six months in county jail [...]
[...] The Curvature [...]
I’m a little confused about the idea that a predator fraudulently claiming to be a victims advocate in order to gain access to vulnerable prey should not be considered in the sentencing. The fraud and deceit aspect of other crimes are almost always taken into consideration during sentencing.
Why would one expect to make an exception of a sexual predator?
As thebewilderness says about the sentencing… If the woman he assaulted had been below the age of majority, he’d've been done for child abuse and the book would’ve been thrown at him. Moreso, for inveigling himself into a position where he had access to people below the age of majority and abusing that position.
But, hey, it’s only adult women and it’s only survivors of rape that he abused and assaulted…
*goes off to beat head off brick wall to stop the hurting*
I don’t know if I’m ready to throw a party about this. Six months? Pretty weak sauce. The fact that he, like the b and Depresso say, pretended to be an advocate for victims ought to have factored into the decision over whether to make him register. It’s a testament to how fucked our legal system is that they’ve reduced us to celebrating when someone gets any punishment at all for violating a woman’s right to bodily sovereignty. But then, I’d apply Deuce’s Law to this guy, so maybe I’m biased or something.
Seriously, though, I’m almost glad I missed the window to comment on his little “apology” on his blog. Could this guy be any more of a crybaby? Oh, wah, the mean old feminists are giving me a hard time because I’m a rapist. Christ.
Yeah, I see what you’re saying, ND. The reason I’m excited that he wound up with jail time is that when I emailed the prosecuting attorney, he told me that chances were very slim that Payne would get any jail time, so six months sounded awesome to me.
He plea bargained out of the sexual assault charge, so it was no surprise to me that he didn’t have to register as a sex offender. I don’t think that was even part of the sentencing discussion, honestly; I’m not sure why it was specifically noted in the Iowa Independent article.
He is a fucking giant baby. Hate.
Regarding registration as a sex offender, in some states, well, at least Minn. being sentenced to any crim wherein one was charged with a registerable offense requires registration, even if not sentenced on the registerable offense. The only way to not register and still serve time is if a jury finds you specifically not guilty of the registerable offense. Actually, I’m not positive about that, but I don’t think the accused has to be found not guilty in total.
Narcissism is the new rehab. Did he thank Mr. Edwards when he invoked that excuse?
6 months is great. It’s way more than most rapists get. Of course it’s not enough. Absolutely. But at least it’s something. What Deuce said is right though- celebrating a 6 month sentence is kinda pathetic and shows how completely messed up our legal system is. But, I’m still happy it’s 6 months!
[...] Background: here, here, and here. [...]