State Senator Questions Sentence of Former UW Student

State Senator Lena Taylor is questioning the judge who sentenced a former UW-Madison student accused of sexual assault to just three years in prison. 22-year old Alec Cook pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three female students, as well as choking or stalking two others. He originally faced more than twenty crimes against nearly a dozen women, which could have meant up to forty years behind bars. Taylor says the same judge sentenced a 16-year old African-American man, Adore Thomas, to twenty years in prison for sexually assaulting one woman. She calls the difference in sentencing “deeply troubling”. She also questions the message sent to Cook’s victims through the lenient ruling.