Judge Wanted Leniency for Teenager in Rape Case Because He's From 'Good Family'

A 16-year-old boy, who reportedly filmed himself raping a drunken 16-year-old girl at a New Jersey party in 2017, has had a motion filed by prosecutors to try him as an adult denied by a judge, New York Times reports. Judge James Troiano of Superior Court said that the act of sexual assault wasn't rape, and that he ultimately deserved leniency in the case because he came from a "good family" and "had terrific grades."

The boy filmed himself penetrating the girl from behind as her head was slumped down. Investigators claim that he even defined the act as rape himself, sending the video to his friends with the message, "When your first time having sex was rape."

Judge Troiano also told prosecutors that the girl and her family should have been told she could "destroy the boy's life" before pressing charges.

"He is clearly a candidate for not just college but probably for a good college," Troiano said during a two-hour decision last year. The judge has now been warned by an appeals court against showing bias toward "privileged teenagers" in a 14-page ruling. The 16-year-old boy will now have his case moved to a grand jury instead of family court and will be treated as an adult. When accused of serious crimes, New Jersey law dictates that juveniles from age 15 and up can be tried as adults.

"That the juvenile came from a good family and had good test scores we assume would not condemn the juveniles who do not come from good families and do not have good test scores from withstanding waiver application," the panel said in its decision to move the case to a grand jury.