Amish Man Gets 5 Years in Rape Case

Originally published by The Associated Press, October 30, 2001

CAMBRIDGE, Ohio — A judge rejected a plea-bargain recommendation Tuesday and sentenced an Amish man to five years in prison for raping two girls.

Judge David Ellwood said he felt Norman Byler, 69, could not be rehabilitated.

Byler initially pleaded innocent to 11 counts of rape and gross sexual imposition. He later pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual battery in a plea bargain that would have required him to receive five years of treatment at a center for sex offenders.

Byler's attorney, Diane Menashe, said she would challenge the prison sentence by trying to have the guilty plea withdrawn.

The case marked a rare example of Amish crimes being prosecuted in secular courts, attorneys on both sides said.

The assaults occurred between June 1 and Oct. 31, 1999, according to court records. Sheriff's detectives were alerted by non-Amish neighbors who saw one of the children bleeding.

An Amish bishop ordered Byler shunned, a shaming ritual short of excommunication that continues until a person confesses and repents.