Six South Dakota baseball players will not face jail time for their role in an alleged rape against a teenage teammate.
In August of 2023, six players from the Mitchell Legion Baseball Team, Lincoln Bates, Karter Sibson, Landon Waddell, Peyton Mandel, Hudson Haley, and Carter Miller, were indicted on second-degree rape and aiding and abetting charges following an investigation by the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation. All six teens initially pleaded not guilty to all their charges .
On Thursday, each player was sentenced to three years probation. A judge ruled that the six players do 500 hours of community service and pay a $1,300 fine, Dakota News Now reported.
The sentencing is the conclusion to a case that has spanned for over a year following an incident during a trip to Rapid City where the Mitchell Legion Baseball Team was supposed to play last year.
The six players, all teenagers at the time, were prosecuted following an alleged incident involving a 16-year-old teammate at a Rapid City hotel in the summer of 2023.
A coach connected to the team was prosecuted for, and acquitted of, failure to report child abuse.
Similar charges were dismissed against a team board member as well, SDPB.com reported. In June 2023, the Mitchell Baseball Association terminated the season completely when more details on the misconduct were revealed.
The six teens, who initially pleaded not guilty, described the alleged incident as a “team hazing ritual." They ended up pleading guilty in exchange for a plea deal that dropped all rape charges against the team.
Major Crimes Senior Deputy Attorney Roxanne Hammond said that this was not a simple case of "boys being boys."
"What happened here was not a diabolical plan put on by a bunch of sadists, but it was also no simple game. What happened in this case was, quite frankly, disturbing and wrong. And what’s even more alarming is how many people in the Mitchell community don’t seem to grasp that," she said in her sentencing argument.
She described the violent incident, where the teen was penetrated against his will "So (the victim) is held down, and over and over, fingers are violently shoved into his anus," she said. "They’re shoved in even harder, because he said no. Because he struggled. He was punished for refusing to participate in this sick rite of passage forced upon him by the older boys."
Following their charges, Mandel was not allowed in school like the other teens were. His attorney asked that he be allowed to attend school and participate in basketball and other extracurricular activities while on bond.
His attorney said the victim in the case does not play on the boys basketball team, but did play football. Seven Circuit Judge Robert Gusinsky granted the motion to attend school as long as Mandel does not attend classes with the victim. The teen was allowed to play basketball and attend extracurricular events, but Mandel will have to stay 100 feet away from the victim at activities and 30 feet away during school.
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