The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Jack G. Young appeared in front of District Court Judge, Yvonne Laird at the Blaine County Courthouse in Chinook, Montana Monday afternoon for a sentencing hearing on a felony charge of Sexual Intercourse Without Consent. Young was charge in connection with an investigation last April that resulted in his arrest on April 22, 2022. Young was a teacher at Harlem High School at the time of his arrest and the victim a student of his at the school.

Young appeared in court wearing his striped jail suit and handcuffs. Young remained in cuffs throughout the proceeding and was seated to the right of his attorney during the entirety of the hearing. After going through a list of restitution motions the court heard from the father of the victim, and listened to a well spoken account of the trauma the child, family and all those involved have had to deal with since the day they learned of the circumstances surrounding their child and the arrest of Mr. Young. The father spoke of his child being broke mentally and struggling day to day. He spoke of the family and pain they have, and not being able to take it away. He spoke of them both having younger children that will be attending school in Harlem and wondering if they will be safe themselves.

Young was given an opportunity to address the court before his sentence was announced and stated his wish to apologize to the family, the school and the community and that "It was not how I was raised to be". Judge Laird then addressed Young as she sentenced him, "You have not only shattered the trust of a young girl, but you have betrayed the trust of the Harlem and Fort Belknap communities that welcomed you into their community and trusted you with their most valuable possession, their children." Laird touched on several issues that the court found "terrifying" before she delivered her sentence.

In handing down Young's sentence Judge Laird stated, "Given the courts review of the Psycho-sexual evaluation, the PSI, the recommendations of council and having considered the Victim Impact Statement and the vulnerability of the population that you victimized, children who were under your authority, who did not feel that they could come forward and tell anyone what was going on because of your position, it is necessary to sentence you to the Montana State Prison for a period of 20 years with 7 years suspended. You will be a Tier 1 Offender. You will pay a $5,000 fine. When you are serving the suspended portion of your sentence you will be subject to conditions 1-47 as set forth. The court finds that you do have the ability to earn wages and since you are not precluded from that you should be able to meet those financial responsibilities."

The courtroom was silent during the verdict and Young remained motionless as it was read. A full recap of the proceedings will appear in next weeks Blaine County Journal.