A 20-year-old man was sentenced to three to 15 years in prison for raping an MSU student in her dorm room in April 2004.
Joseph Zant, a 2003 Grand Haven High School graduate, pled no contest to third-degree criminal sexual conduct in July and was sentenced by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Beverley Nettles-Nickerson on Wednesday.
"For all those males out there who think it's OK to do this kind of thing, particularly if the woman is intoxicated, they should be thinking of three to 15," said Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III. "That's what this guy got."
The morning of the incident, the 20-year-old MSU student went to sleep at about 4 a.m. in her Case Hall room after having a few drinks, Dunnings said. She awoke to find the man - who was an acquaintance of someone she had gone out with that night - in bed with her, Dunnings said.
He then sexually assaulted her after she told him no, Dunnings said.
At first, Dunnings said the student didn't want to prosecute, but eventually police were able to use the "rape kit" to find the suspect.
"Women need to know that if they're victims of sexual assault, they need to go to Sparrow, they need to have the rape kit done and they need to file a police report," Dunnings said. "That does not mean they'll end up in court."
Zant pleaded no contest for reason of intoxication on July 20. The prosecution recommended anywhere from 24 to 40 months, but Nettles-Nickerson chose to sentence on the high end of the guidelines because of the "nature of his offense," she said.
"He had a slew of support letters, but that didn't persuade me to go lower," Nettles-Nickerson said.
Zant's family members and friends wrote letters attesting to his character, she said. His defense attorney, Raymond Reynolds, described the case as "tragic."
"His family and the victim's family have been terribly traumatized by this whole thing," Reynolds said, adding that Zant might file an appeal.
After three years in prison, Zant could appeal to the Michigan Department of Corrections for parole, Nettles-Nickerson said. "Hopefully, the student will feel more protected in that justice has been served in some way," she said. "You can never right the wrong that happened to her."
