Rapist receives jail term after parole violations

Judge gives new sentence in case that triggered retention challenge

She didn’t give him another chance. A Douglas County judge on Tuesday ordered a prison sentence for a man she initially allowed to be on probation for the controversial 2003 rape of an intoxicated 13-year-old girl.

Judge Paula Martin revoked probation for William N. Haney based on a long list of violations in the past year. At the end of the hearing, deputies led him away to begin serving a 30-month prison sentence.

“I was really scared that she would give him another chance,” said the victim’s mother, who sobbed in court as Martin made her decision. “I’m relieved that she was able to follow through with what she said she would do if he had a violation. … After such a long time, it feels like my daughter is going to get some justice.”

Haney, 20, Lawrence, stood up in court and told Martin he was “clueless” about how to succeed on probation, even though he acknowledged discussing requirements with his probation officer.

“I have slacked off a little bit,” he said. “I’ve gotten comfortable with things.”

Sex with a child under 14 is rape under Kansas law, and it normally carries a penalty of at least 13 years in prison.

But Martin caused an uproar last year by ordering 60 days’ shock time in jail, community service and probation for Haney and two co-defendants based on a law that allows judges to give lesser sentences if there are “substantial and compelling reasons.”

Martin cited factors including her finding that the girl was a willing participant in the events that led to the rape and wasn’t harmed as much as some rape victims.

The sentences caused an outcry among police and victims’ advocates and led to an unsuccessful effort to vote Martin off the bench in the November retention election. Others credited Martin for making a tough but unpopular decision and for not blindly following sentencing guidelines.

At Haney’s sentencing in early 2004, Martin told him he’d face strict conditions of probation and would go to prison if he failed to comply.

“This young man is going to have to toe the line to keep his freedom, and I think that’s fair,” one of Haney’s attorneys, Kathleen Ambrosio, said at the time.

But on Tuesday, Martin found that in the past year Haney didn’t obey his probation officer’s curfew instructions, failed to complete community service work and failed to pay probation fees, among other violations.

Haney admitted other violations, including being cited by Lawrence police for a noise violation and associating with a known offender.

Martin ordered him to serve his underlying prison sentence of 30 months followed by 36 months of post-release supervision.

Martin turned down a request by Haney’s attorney, Jessica Kunen, to either give him more shock time in jail or allow him 30 days to re-apply to a boot camp in Labette County. Haney applied for the camp but was rejected.

“He didn’t commit any new offenses,” Kunen said. “It’s a matter of being consistent.”

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson said Haney had a “lengthy pattern … of failing to follow directions and failing to comply with the simple requirements that have been presented to him.”

Branson said Haney was “the beneficiary of great consideration” by the court but that he didn’t reward it.

The victim’s mother said seeing Haney go to prison hadn’t changed her overall sense that the courts failed her and her daughter. She said her daughter had suffered a series of mental health problems and didn’t have faith in the legal system.

“The damage has already been done,” she said.