An Alabama state trooper accused of raping a car accident victim and forcing her to perform oral sex was sentenced to just six months in jail.
Samuel H. McHenry II, 36, pleaded guilty on Thursday to misdemeanor sexual misconduct under a deal with prosecutors. He originally faced charges of rape and sodomy for the December 2015 incident, but those were dismissed.
Under the agreement, the ex-trooper’s state certification will be revoked and he will be required to register as a sex offender, the Associated Press reported.
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McHenry will also be permitted to serve his sentence “in increments at his own discretion,” WSFA reported. The 182 days must be served within the next year.
The Alabama Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Both sides have to agree to it, so in that sense there was that discussion about is this acceptable to both sides,” Mcgowin Williamson, one of the attorneys who represented McHenry, told the Associated Press.
When reached by The Daily Beast on Thursday, Williamson wouldn’t comment on McHenry or the Internet’s outrage over his client's plea deal.
The attorney said the victim and her attorney were present during the proceeding, indicating civil litigation may be forthcoming.
“The normal thing is … this [deal] would not be done without the victim’s agreement and acquiescence,” Williamson told The Daily Beast. “As I wasn’t privy to those communications, I don’t know in this case, but normally that would happen.”
Williamson told the AP that prosecutors offered McHenry the plea deal. The agreement came after three hours of negotiations, according to Judge J. MacDonald Russell Jr., the AP reported.
“I suppose the court can always refuse a plea bargain, but that’s not done very often,” Judge Russell told the AP. “I’ve never refused a plea bargain that the parties have hammered out and worked on, since they know the facts.”
Still, the allegations against the former cop are shocking.
McHenry, of Rutledge, was supposed to help the victim on Dec. 6 when he was called to the scene of the accident in Butler County around 10 p.m.
Instead, the sicko threatened to arrest her after spotting pill bottles and an empty nasal spray bottle in her vehicle, Birmingham’s WVTM reported.
According to an affidavit, McHenry placed the woman in a caged area in the back of his squad car and drove her to an exit off Interstate 65 in south Alabama.
Once in a new location, he opened the back door and told her, “Fuck me or go to jail,” court papers state. He then pulled her pants down, raped her and afterward, forced her to perform oral sex, according to the documents.
McHenry then allegedly drove to another exit and dumped the victim at a closed store before taking off. The alleged assault ended around 1:45 a.m. on Dec. 7, court records state.
The trooper was arrested, freed on bond and fired shortly after. At the time, Alabama Secretary of Law Enforcement Spencer Collier called the allegations “unsettling.”
“This type of behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Collier said, according to WVTM. “Because of the seriousness of this incident, [State Bureau of Investigation] agents have worked nonstop with local law enforcement and the district attorney.”
Last month, the AP reported that McHenry was fighting prosecutors’ request for a saliva sample, which they said would ensure a full investigation.
According to the AP, the victim was examined Dec. 7 at a hospital and a rape kit was obtained. Prosecutors said samples taken from McHenry’s patrol car tested positive for the presence of semen.
McHenry’s attorneys sought to block authorities from obtaining a saliva sample until they could consult with an expert to ensure the samples would be properly taken, AP reported.
The cop-turned-sex offender had worked as a state trooper since 2009, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency confirmed.
He was required to pay a $500 fine and restitution for the heinous crime and was ordered not to contact the victim, WSFA reported.
