I guess Gwen was thinking about someone else when writing this story.
31 minutes ago • By GWEN FLORIO of the Missoulian
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The Missoula County Attorney’s Office will seek a 10-year prison sentence for former University of Montana running back Beau Donaldson, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to rape.
Donaldson was charged with a single count of sexual intercourse without consent in connection with a Sept. 24, 2010, incident. More than a year later, he admitted in a phone call monitored by police that he assaulted a friend as she slept on his sofa.
Deputy Missoula County Attorney Shaun Donovan said a plea agreement calls for a sentence of no more than 30 years, with 20 suspended and 10 in the Montana State Prison. The maximum penalty for the charge against Donaldson is 100 years or life in prison.
“The victim has suffered an injury that no amount of punishing the defendant is going to fix,” said Donovan.
Johnson’s attorney, Milt Datsopoulos, said he doesn’t believe prison is the place for his client. “Hopefully the life he’s led will be the most persuasive” argument in favor of a less severe sentence, Datsopoulos said.
To that end, Datsopoulos said he’s assembled a long list of witnesses to
testify at Johnson’s sentencing, tentatively set for Nov. 13. They’ll include coaches, teachers and principals for the Missoula resident who graduated in 2008 from Big Sky High School, where he set 10 school records in football and was the team’s Most Valuable Player as a senior.
“He made a mistake and he acknowledged that mistake early on,” Datsopoulos said. According to charging documents in the case, Donaldson apologized to the woman the next day.
“This took place at a house party and both individuals had been drinking,” Datsopoulos said. Everyone there “was drinking more than they should, but that’s a rite of passage,” he said.
Donovan said he doesn’t know if the victim or her family will testify at the sentencing. But if the victim chooses, she can ask the judge to impose a longer prison sentence. “She’s conflicted,” he said of the plea agreement.
Datsopoulos said a more appropriate sentence would involve his client being placed in a prerelease center run by the Department of Corrections.
And he said he’s concerned that publicity over the issue of sexual assault – especially “the premise that [UM athletes] have been given special consideration” – has “polluted” the environment surrounding sentencing.
“I don’t think that’s completely far-fetched, but we don’t want that to happen,” Donovan said, adding that the County Attorney’s Office seeks “an appropriate” sentence.
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating how UM and Missoula police and the county attorney’s office handle sexual assault cases, while the U.S. Education Department is investigating harassment allegations against the Grizzlies football team.
The NCAA also is investigating unspecified allegations against UM’s football program.
Missoulian reporter Gwen Florio can be reached at 523-5268,
[email protected], or @CopsAndCourts.
