A jury has convicted a man of raping a 9-month-old girl and leaving her for dead in the woods.

Jurors on Friday rejected Randolph Standifer's insanity defense and found him guilty of kidnapping, sexual battery of a child younger than 12 and attempted murder in the second degree.

Standifer, 23, will be sentenced to life in prison, the only penalty allowed by law when a child younger than 12 is raped.

The baby's mother allowed Standifer to spend the night in her trailer home in September 2001. The next morning, she discovered that Standifer and her baby were gone.

Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies found Standifer, who confessed to raping and strangling the baby. He led them to woods where deputies found the baby still alive.

The victim, now 3, bears scars from the rape and a colostomy operation. She and her two older siblings live with their aunt and maternal grandmother.

Before the rape, the mother said, Standifer sometimes went fishing with her husband.

During the trial, mental health experts testified that Standifer as a child was repeatedly molested and shocked with a cattle prod by a neighbor.

Although jurors believe Standifer was mentally ill, "We believed he knew it was wrong, because he covered it up," juror Susan Groce said.

There have been cases where people have "acted out", due to the same thing happening to them in their own pasts. This is a documented psychological phenomenon.

However... Perhaps I'm being insensitive... but so far as sex offenders go, I don't think that, in relation to his/her punishment, it matters why she/he did what she/he did. Sure, it matters as far as prevention goes, but after the fact? No. They had free will, and they acted within that free will. If somebody steps on my foot at a party, I'm hardly going to get away with stomping on everyone else's foot just because it "seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

If someone does something that horrible, terrorizes a child's life to that extent, to hell with 'em. They don't need rehabilitation, they need to be taken out of the gene pool, immediately and with extreme prejudice.

I do realize that mine is a mightily controversial point of view. I'm honestly not trying to offend - it's simply my own personal opinion as far as this type of situation goes.
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Nope. I agree. Stomp their feet then take em outta the gene pool

Why do I bring myself to read these things? I can't understand what is going through a persons mind when they are doing something like that! I'm sorry, but they deserve to be tortured to the fullest degree possible.

Agreed....people like this do not deserve the chance for rehabilitation. I dont want my tax dollars going to feed and house a sick asshole like this. They should be euthanized like a stray dog!

torture. kill. slowly.

That's pretty fucked up. It's people like that which give Florida a shitty name. Like the guy who was going from nursing home to nursing home, raping the older women who either could barely speak, or couldn't speak at all. Some people are seriously fucked up, and yes, Iblis, I agree with you.

for once iblis, i concur