Ralph T. Strother (born May 12, 1943) is a judge from Waco, Texas. He is a Republican Texas District Court Judge serving in Waco's 19th State District Court in McLennan County, Texas. In December 2018, Strother was widely criticized after accepting a plea bargain which allowed accused rapist Jacob Anderson, to walk free with no jail time. ^[1]

Ralph Strother grew up in Waco, Texas. He graduated from Baylor University in Waco in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts. Strother later graduated from Baylor with a Juris Doctor in November 1982. He was admitted to the State Bar of Texas and granted a license to practice law on May 13, 1983.

Ralph Strother is a a Republican Texas District CourtJudgeserving in Waco's 19th State District Court in McLennan County, Texas. He was re-elected to the position in 2016 with his current term ending on December 31, 2020. [4]

On Monday, December 11, 2018, Judge Ralph Strother offered Jacob Walter Anderson, a Baylor University student charged on four counts of sexual assault, a plea bargain without any jail time or requirements to register as a sex offender. The judge has previously twice approved probation for men accused of sexually assaulting Baylor students. [6]

Judge Ralph Strother’s decision to accept the plea deal sparked outrage from the woman who accused Anderson of repeatedly raping her. The woman says she was plied with a drink of punch at the party in 2016 and became disoriented. Anderson, the woman said, led her behind a tent and sexually assaulted her while she was gagged and choked.

“He stole my body, virginity and power over my body,” the woman said in court, according to a family spokesman.

Anderson had been indicted on four sexual assault charges and the deal allowed him to plead no contest to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint. A no contest plea means a person does not admit guilt, but will offer no defense. Anderson was expelled from Baylor after a university investigation.

The deal allowed Anderson to receive deferred probation as long as he seeks counseling and pays a $400 fine.

Anderson will not be required to register as a sex offender as part of the deal.

The woman told authorities she was sexually assaulted until she lost consciousness and police reported Anderson left her alone. Police said she had vomited on herself and could have choked to death in the backyard.

“I not only have to live with his rape and the repercussions of the rape, I have to live with the knowledge that the McLennan County justice system is severely broken,” the family statement quoted the woman as saying.

“I have to live with the fact that after all these years and everything I have suffered, no justice was achieved.”

McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna defended the plea deal in October.

“This office stands by the plea offered and believes we have achieved the best result possible with the evidence at hand,” Reyna said.

He said that evidence did not support the allegation that the victim may have been drugged.

Judge Strother said that in making the decision he had the benefit of arguments filed by attorneys on both sides and a background report assembled by a probation department.

He said much of the comments he saw on social media or in emails were “not fully informed, misinformed or totally uninformed.”

Strother previously sentenced two other men accused of sex crimes to probation.

In 2017, he sentenced Dontrell Lee Hullett to deferred probation after he pleaded guilty in the 2013 rape of a former Baylor student.

The judge ordered the man to pay for the woman’s counselling.

The man told police the woman had been drunk, according to an affidavit. [7]

Earlier in 2018, Strother sentenced a man to felony probation for the sexual assault of a former Baylor student, a punishment that came with 30 days in jail.

The man, who was a student at the time and told authorities the sex was consensual, was allowed to serve the jail time on the weekends.

The outrage over Anderson’s plea deal also mirrors reaction to the case involving ex-Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner, who was convicted in 2016 of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman outside a fraternity party.

The judge in that case, Aaron Persky, rejected a prosecutor’s demand for a lengthy prison term and instead sentenced Turner to six months in jail. He was released from jail in September 2016 after serving three months.