Former Montana Technical University football player after admitting to rape, still gets off with slap on the wrist

Derek Nygaard was facing 20-year prison sentence for incidents of rape and sexual assault after his two victims both told the judge NOT to jail him

Instead he got a deferred sentence with the prosecutor saying that his victims support the outcome

Nygaard, 20, on Thursday pled guilty to hitting, preventing from living and raping two women while he was a student at Montana Technical University in Butte

He avoided the prescribed lengthy incarceration after both victims, who are friends, asked a judge not to jail him  

The women told the judge their hope is that ‘nobody else goes through it,’ they also put themselves in Nygaard’s shoes

‘They hope he can take the necessary steps, with counseling… and become a productive member of the community,’ their attorney said 

One of the women was raped in 2020 after she was too drunk to walk home on her own and decided to go to Nygaard’s instead

Roughly a week later, another victim, who had been in a short relationship with Nygaard, came forward and detailed an earlier rape 

Nygaard will be required to receive counseling and register as a sex offender for six years – He can then require his guilty plea to be expunged from his record 

A former rising college football player escaped a potential 20-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault after his two victims told the judge they wanted to give him a second chance.   
Twenty-year-old Derek Nygaard avoided a custodial sentence at a court in Butte, Montana, on March 24 despite admitting a rape and a sexual assault. Those attacks took place in September and October 2020 while he was a student at Montana Technical University.  
He could have faced two decades in jail for these attacks, instead he was sentenced to probation, counselling, and required to sign on the sex offenders’ register for six years.

Derek Nygaard sentencing

Judge Kurt Krueger told Nygaard that if he complies with the terms of his sentence, he can even apply to have his conviction expunged from his record afterwards, The Montana Standard reported. 
Nygaard’s unnamed victims lawyer told the hearing: ‘They hope he can take the necessary steps, with counseling, with all the conditions of supervision, and become a productive member of the community,’ a lawyer for the victims told the court during Nygaard’s sentencing Thursday. 
In court on Thursday, Nygaard voiced regret for his ‘disrespectful’ actions.  
‘Your honor, I’m incredibly disappointed in my behavior by acting disrespectfully,’ he said. 
‘In the past year-and-a-half, I have begun the long process of maturing and taking on the responsibility of becoming a man my family and I can be proud of.’
He claimed to be undergoing counselling to help him understand the gravity of his crimes. 

Judge Krueger told Nygaard: ‘What influences the court the most … is that the victims have indicated that they feel that you should be given a chance and this chance you are getting is an incredible chance.’
Last week’s sentencing came 18 months after both attacks occurred.  
The October 2020 victim reported her attack first. She was Nygaard’s ex-girlfriend, and told of how he’d turned up at her home too drunk to walk, then attacked her.
Nygaard covered the woman’s hand with his mouth while raping her, then barred her from leaving afterwards. She went to the cops shortly afterwards. 
The second victim, who Nygaard attacked a month earlier, in September 2020, was friends with both Nygaard and his other victim. She contacted cops a week after the October attack. 
She told of how she’d been sexually assaulted by Nygaard after he’d texted her to say he felt like he wanted to self-harm, and she’d invited him over.  
Nygaard will be required to receive counseling and register as a sex offender for six years. After that, he can require his guilty plea to be expunged from his criminal record, reported. 
If Nygaard fails to follow the requirements of his probation, he could be sentenced to up to life in prison, Judge Krueger said. 

In the state of Montana, rape is a felony that carries up to 20 years. 
Nygaard entered a no-prison plea bargain. While he was found guilty, his victims’ statements played a pivotal part in his deferred prison sentence. 
Samm Cox, a lawyer for the victims, reiterated they wanted to Nygaard another opportunity to be better. 
‘There’s no excuse or justifications for his actions but the victims wanted me to let the court know that their acceptance of this recommendation is based upon their hope — their sincere hope — that nobody else has to go through the position they were in,’ Cox said.  

Judge Krueger said in court that while his clean record was one of the factors that helped Nygaard get a deferred sentence, it was really the victims’ support for him not to be jailed that made a difference. 
‘You don’t have any criminal record of any kind but what influences the court the most in relation to that is that the victims have indicated that they feel that you should be given a chance, and this chance you are getting is an incredible chance,’ Krieger said.  
‘They understood from being perspective and being students themselves that the ramifications from this are for the entirety of this person’s life,’ Cox said. 
‘So they thought, putting themselves in somebody else’s shoes, that an opportunity was warranted.’
According to prosecution filings, the first victim came forward on October 13, 2020.
Nygaard had made sexual advances twice before he assaulted her with his finger while covering her mouth at her residence in Butte.  

Montana Tech started investigating the assault and informed Butte police after the victim reported it.  
Ten days later, another victim came forward, accusing Nygaard of raping her after she let him inside her residence when he appeared drunk. 
The woman said Nygaard had been in short-term relationship in 2020, with him threatening to harm himself. 
When she asked him to leave, he refused and raped her. She tried calling for help but Nygaard took her phone away and continued assaulting her.    
He was charged with two counts of rape.
Nygaard was a student at Montana Tech in the 2020 fall semester but was no longer enrolled there or still a member of the football team when prosecutors filed charges this past March.
The charges were later combined into one and he entered the no-prison plea deal.  
Cox said Nygaard’s second chance was a ‘double-edged sword.’
‘He either avails of it and shows that it was a mistake of maturity, a mistake that is not consistent with being a sexual predator, or if he does show any other signs that he is a predator of any nature, we have an opportunity to go for a full sentence,’ Cox said.