For the past year, he’s been free on probation, cleaning up trash around the courthouse for community-service work, going to bars and occasionally staying at a homeless shelter.

But on Thursday, Michael J. Rayton, 29, stood before a judge faced with the possibility of going to prison for his role in the 2003 statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. His probation officer said he’s repeatedly violated probation during the past year by breaking curfew, missing appointments and drinking alcohol.

The victim’s mother said Rayton has been allowed to go free for too long. She said it’s another sign that the system has been too lenient on the men who had sex with her underage, intoxicated daughter.

“It’s been a year that these violations have started and continued,” she said. “I just think that’s a really long time for a person convicted of a felony to continue to violate their probation and be allowed to be on the streets with no repercussions.”

Lengthy violations

In a report filed Monday, Rayton’s probation officer alleged that in the past year, Rayton violated probation in the following ways:

¢ Missing eight appointments with either his probation officer or a social worker.

¢ Violating curfew more than 20 times, including being seen earlier this month at the Douglas County Fair with young females.

¢ Drinking alcohol and getting kicked out of a downtown bar.

¢ Failing to write a letter of apology to the victim.

¢ Refusing to stop visiting a local social services agency where a relative of the victim works.

¢ Leaving the county or remaining outside of the county without permission.

Many chances

Ron Stegall, the county’s chief executive probation officer, said his officers’ philosophy was to give people as many chances as possible. They seek to revoke probation only if there is a clear public safety danger or if it’s clear the person has stopped making an effort to succeed on probation.

“Our philosophy is not, ‘You break one condition of probation, we’re going to put out an affidavit and try to get you to prison,'” he said.

According to court testimony, Rayton has a brain disorder and I.Q. between 61 and 75, something Stegall said his office took into account. Only in recent weeks, after Rayton continued to violate direct orders from his probation officer, did it become clear that Rayton wouldn’t be able to make it through probation, Stegall said.

Rayton is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a hearing on the allegations and was being held in the Douglas County Jail on Thursday with bond set at $15,000.

Judge Paula Martin has options, including sending him to prison, putting him back on probation or sending him to ‘shock time’ in jail.

Ongoing controversy

Rayton’s arrest is the latest episode in a controversy that began in June 2003 when he, two other men and a juvenile had sex with the girl at a central Lawrence apartment as the juvenile suspect’s mother slept in a nearby room.

Before the sex happened, the girl had been vomiting and had to be carried up a flight of stairs.

Under Kansas law, sex with a child younger than 14 is considered rape, even if there is no physical force, and carries a minimum penalty of about 13 years. Two of the men, Brian K. Ussery, of Tonganoxie, and William N. Haney, of Lawrence, were convicted of rape.

Rayton entered a plea to aggravated indecent liberties with a child, which normally carries a sentence of about five years in prison.

But based in part on a finding that the girl was an “active participant” and wasn’t harmed as much as some rape victims, Judge Martin lightened sentences from prison to probation time for the three men, with the possibility of serving 30 months in prison if they violated probation.

The sentences led to an unsuccessful effort to vote Martin off the bench in the November election.

In April, Haney was sent to prison for violating his probation after racking up a list of violations similar in length to Rayton’s. And last month, the Kansas Court of Appeals overturned Martin’s sentences for Haney and Ussery, finding they were too lenient and an abuse of discretion.

The two men are expected to be resentenced in coming weeks.

Probation officer Stegall said Ussery was doing well on probation.