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Harrington Announces Rape Conviction In 2014 Williams College Incident

The door of the Berkshire District Attorney's office.
Josh Landes
/
WAMC

The Berkshire County District Attorney has announced a rape conviction in a case stemming from a 2014 incident at Williams College.

The DA’s office says former Williams College student Yoonsang Bae was “found guilty by Judge Michael Callan Friday on a single count of rape relating to an on-campus incident in 2014.” DA Andrea Harrington told WAMC that the previous DA made a plea offer to the defendant.

“An offer to reduce the charge from rape to an indecent assault and battery, and when I took office, we quickly determined that that was not a plea offer that we could continue or support and we wanted to go to trial,” she told WAMC.

Harrington made aggressive prosecution of sexual assault a central part of her campaign in 2018, especially following claims that the office had not pursued charges at Williams College in dozens of cases of alleged sexual assault.

According to Harrington, the 27-year-old Bae will be sentenced September 13th.

When reached Friday afternoon, a Williams College spokesperson had no comment on the conviction.

You can hear the full interview with Harrington here:

josh_landes_md_andrea_harrington_1_on_1_williams_rape_case_9-9-19_air_final.mp3

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
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