A mother broke down and cried Friday in court as she described the transformation her teenage daughter has gone through since being raped by four people last summer — a crime that’s resulted in lightened sentences for three of the men.

The girl, age 13 and intoxicated at the time of the rapes, has run away four times, has scars on her arms from episodes of self-mutilation, or “cutting,” and still is harassed and physically threatened by people who know what happened to her, the mother said. The family is planning to move out of state to get a new start, she said.

“She has no faith in the system, society, authority figures,” the mother said. “She hates almost everything.”

The mother’s testimony came at the sentencing for Michael J. Rayton, 28, the last of four defendants convicted in connection with the June 2003 incident at a central Lawrence apartment.

As in two previous sentencings in this case, District Judge Paula Martin granted an exception to state sentencing guidelines and ordered probation for Rayton instead of prison.

“It breaks my heart to hear what she’s gone through and what the family has gone through and for how long it’s gone on,” said Martin, who added she’d thought about the case every day for the past 14 months.

Controversial decision

Martin sparked outrage earlier this year when she granted probation to co-defendants Brian K. Ussery, Tonganoxie, and William N. Haney, Lawrence, in part based on her finding that the girl was an “active participant” — for example, by making encouraging comments to the men — and wasn’t harmed as much as some rape victims.

Among those decrying the sentences was Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline.

Mitigating circumstance

Though the outcome of Rayton’s case was similar, Martin’s had other reasons for giving him a lighter sentence. Rayton has a brain disorder, functions at the level of a 10-year-old and has an I.Q. of between 61 and 75, according to testimony.

Also, Rayton was charged with rape but convicted of the lesser crime of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The conviction came about in a plea reached after the victim’s family decided it didn’t want her to go through the trauma of testifying again.

Both prosecutors and the victim’s mother asked Martin to give Rayton the penalty presumed under state law, roughly five years in prison.

“Send a message to the community. Send a message to the defendant: You do something like this, you’re going to face the consequences,” Assistant Dist. Atty. Brad Burke said.

Lesser role

Rayton’s attorney, Geoffrey Clark, argued that his client deserved a lighter sentence in part because he played a lesser role in the crime and would be victimized in the prison system. He also argued, as did attorneys for the co-defendants, that the girl was a willing participant in the sex and wasn’t harmed as much as some rape victims.

A juvenile convicted in the case, Dana S. Jackson, was sentenced by a different judge to 30 months in a juvenile correctional facility.

After deliberating for more than a half-hour, Martin set out her reasons for granting the departure from sentencing guidelines, including Rayton’s mental abilities and his lesser culpability than other defendants.

Martin said that the girl was “a participant” in the night’s events but that she “remains a victim of Mr. Rayton.”

Martin ordered Rayton to serve 60 months’ probation, write a letter of apology to the victim, do 15 hours’ community service per week until he gets a job, and live in a group home for people with mental disabilities. If he fails to complete probation, he’ll have to serve 30 months in prison.

The victim’s mother didn’t wait in court to hear the outcome.