A 21-year-old San Juan Island man was ordered to serve an “exceptional” prison term of three years and four months for rape of a 15-year-old girl with whom he once had an ongoing sexual relationship.
On June 27, Kristian K. Sakstrup was sentenced in San Juan County Superior Court to 40 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,269 in fines and fees. The sentence was handed down by Judge Don Eaton roughly six months after the 21-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree rape of a child, a Class A felony that carries maximum penalties of life in prison, a $50,000 fine, or both.
The sentence is considered “exceptional” because it falls below the standard range of sentencing set by the state — 78-102 months — for that particular felony crime.
Sakstrup was charged a year ago in May with two counts of second-degree rape of a child, one count of third-degree rape of a child, one count of third-degree rape and violation of a restraining order in the aftermath of alleged sexual assault. Prosecutors recommended a prison term at the low end of the state sentencing standard, but not below.
According to court documents, Sakstrup first had sex with the girl following a chance encounter at the Friday Harbor apartment of a mutual friend. He was 18, and she was 13 and intending to run away from home, at the time. The two began dating about two years later and developed an intimate relationship that abruptly ended eight months later in charges of rape. The girl was granted a restraining order following the assault.
In support of a sentence below the state standard, Eaton, according to court documents, noted that Sakstrup was only 18 at the time of the first sexual encounter with the girl, that she had been — to a significant degree — a willing partner, and that he had been raised in a household where age-sex boundaries were blurred and lacked an understanding about consequences of sex with a 13-year-old.
After fulfilling the prison term, he will be required to register as a sex offender and prohibited from contacting the girl for the remainder of her life.
