On May 17, Nolan Bruder, 20, appeared in a Northern California court before Judge William H. Follett. Bruder had earlier pleaded guilty to raping and drugging his sister. Follett sentenced Bruder to three years in state prison but then placed him on probation for the three years. Follett also sentenced the 20-year-old to 240 days in the county jail but under California law, he will only serve half that time or 120 days.
On July 11, 2016, Bruder, then 19, gave his 16-year-old sister marijuana and several dabs of potent hash oil. As both of them smoked, he twice asked her to have sex with him. She said, “No.” After the third time he asked, his sister told police she couldn’t say “no” anymore and then both of them took off their clothes and had sex. His sister felt she didn’t recognize him as her brother at that stage. Bruder admitted to police his sister was “probably stoned” when they engaged in sex.
According to three probation officers, Bruder showed no remorse and appeared to be smug. The probation report recommended he be sentenced to six years in prison, a sentence the prosecutor asked for. But Judge Follett decided the “stigma” of the conviction and the fact Bruder will have to register as a sex offender was sufficient to deter him and others. Follett seemed to suggest the crime was not that serious because the 16-year-old took her own clothes off and was conscious throughout the sex act. The judge also took 18 letters of support for Bruder into account.
Del Norte County District Attorney Dale Trigg was outraged at the sentence. He said, “The message that this sends to our community is that sexual predators who get their juvenile siblings stoned enough can have sex with them without any meaningful consequence.” Trigg also said Follett’s comments about the girl taking her own clothes off was “blaming the victim.”
Trigg: Sentence more egregious than in Brock Turner case
The District Attorney compared the case to that of Brock Turner. Turner, a member of the Stanford University swim team, was sentenced to six months in jail after he raped an unconscious woman outside a frat house. Like in the present case, the judge was worried about the harm a longer jail sentence would do to the promising young man.
Trigg said the present case was worse than Turner’s because Bruder targeted his own sister and he was the one who put her in a state where he could do what he wanted.
As a a result of the outrage sparked by Turner’s sentence, changes to California law were made. In September 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown signed two bills into law. One of these bills, AB 2888, prohibits judges from sentencing an offender to probation for rape and other sex crimes where the victim was unconscious or unable to resist due to intoxication.
The new laws took effect on Jan. 1, 2017 and were therefore not applicable to Bruder’s 2016 crime. Trigg is looking into the possibility of an appeal.
