idaho
U.S. Department of Homeland Security employees work on the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team operational watch floor where they monitor, track, and investigate cyber incidents in this handout photo taken Oct. 29, 2009, at the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho. REUTERS/Chris Morgan/Idaho National Laboratory

A judge in Idaho has ordered an 18-year-old man convicted of raping an underage girl to abstain from sex before marriage as part of his sentence. Cody Duane Scott Herrera, who pleaded guilty to statutory rape in March 2015, previously had 34 sexual partners, leading 5th District Judge Randy Stoker to set the probation condition.

“If you’re ever on probation with this court, a condition of that will be you will not have sexual relations with anyone except who you’re married to, if you’re married,” Stoker said.

Herrera was initially sentenced to prison for five to 15 years following his conviction of statutory rape of the 14-year-old girl, but the judge suspended his sentence in favor of a year-long therapeutic prison program. If he can complete the program, Herrera will then be released on probation with the circumstance of abstaining from sex before marriage, according to MagicValley.com.

Some legal academics have pondered whether the judge would be able to enforce the probationary condition. Associate professor at University of Idaho College of Law Shaakirrah R. Sanders said the condition could be illegal because while judges have discretion for probation terms, they cannot violate state or federal law.

“I would suspect [a judge can’t do that]. I think it infringes on his constitutional rights,” Sanders said.

Herrera also allegedly watched rape pornography and may face a set of similar charges of having sex with another underage girl, according to prosecutors. The victim’s mother released a statement about the convicted rapist, painting him as an assailant who targeted her daughter.

“It was his intent from the beginning to take what he wanted from my 14-year-old child — her virginity. And he stayed around until he got it from her. Cody will never understand what he has done to our family. Cody robbed her of her innocence. He destroyed the child left in her. This can never be returned,” the victim’s mother said.

RELATED STORIES