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Office of the District Attorney P. David Soares Sandra “Beth” Geisel Pleads Guilty to Rape in the Third Degree ALBANY , NY – District Attorney P. David Soares today announced that SANDRA BETH GEISEL, 42, of Albany NY , pled guilty today to one Count of Rape in the 3 rd Degree and one count of Driving While Intoxicated as a Misdemeanor before the Honorable Stephen W. Herrick. She faces six months of incarceration in Albany County Jail, ten years Probation, registration as a Sex Offender, and a Court mandated substance abuse treatment program and loss of license. Sentencing is scheduled for November 21, 2005 . By pleading to the Rape charge, GEISEL admitted to having engaged in sexual intercourse with a teenage boy who was under the legal age of consent in the State of New York . That means that, regardless of the circumstances at the time, the boy was legally unable to grant his consent to the sexual contact. District Attorney Soares was pleased with the outcome of the case. “In all cases involving the Special Victims Unit, we need to balance the interests of justice with the need to protect the victim from the possibility of additional harm resulting the potentially hostile public questioning that is part of any trial. That is a general rule and it certainly applied in this case,” he said. “This outcome was determined by considering all the facts and evidence of this particular case. Based on those facts, we concluded that this case called for a combination of incarceration, treatment, and continued monitoring. During our investigation it became very apparent that alcohol abuse was a major contributor to the irresponsible and damaging behavior engaged by the defendant. While our position is that alcohol abuse is never an excuse or a justification for criminal behavior, we also feel very strongly that treatment and a long period of monitoring by the Albany County Probation Department is the best way to protect the public from this defendant in the future. It is important to realize that this treatment program will be determined by a court mandated evaluation. It is mandatory and it could possibly result in additional time in a residential treatment program,” Soares said. “I would also like to point out that in proposing any sort of a plea deal we always take the feelings and views of the victims into account. We discussed this proposal with the victim and his family prior to presenting it to the defendant and we believe that they are satisfied that justice has been done,” he added. Back to Press Releases For further information contact: Richard Arthur
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