Reid Boucher, a former NHL player who has most recently been playing in the international Kontinental Hockey League, was sentenced in a closed Washtenaw County court hearing Monday in his 2011 sexual assault case involving a 12-year-old.
Boucher, of the Okemos area, who was 17 at the time of the offense but is now 28, will serve four years of probation, with one year of jail time suspended if he successfully completes the probation, his attorney and the now-23-year-old Ypsilanti woman at the center of the case both confirmed to the Free Press.
Boucher, who was originally charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, pleaded guilty in December to the lesser charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving penetration with someone between the ages of 13 and 16 years old.
The first-degree charge carries a penalty of 25 years to life in prison, and the third-degree charge normally carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, including sex offender registration.
However, Boucher was sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, or HYTA, which means he will keep a clean public record if he successfully completes his sentence.
The 23-year-old, speaking after the hearing under anonymity due to the circumstances of the case, said she was grateful for "some semblance of closure."
Meanwhile, Boucher's attorney, Pamella Szydlak, in an email referred to "revisionist history" in the case and said Boucher was prepared to go to trial but made the best choice for his family.
The 23-year-old woman came forward in 2021 to report that Boucher, as a 17-year-old, on two occasions pressured her into the use of her mouth for oral sexual assault in 2011 when she was 12 years old. She had been his so-called "billet sister" in USA Hockey National Team Development Program.
Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Patrick Conlin, in the open court hearing in December, agreed to the youthful trainee designation, citing "unusual circumstances, the time that has passed since the assault and Boucher's age of 17 back then.
On a public court livestream on YouTube on Monday, before going into a private video conference for the virtual sentencing, Conlin said he had received three media requests for access to the hearing but said under the county guidelines surrounding HYTA, the court closes such sentencings.
The Free Press had requested access to the hearing Monday and was denied.
The 23-year-old had been upset with the court closure stifling her voice. Speaking after the hearing, she said she was glad she at least got to read her victim impact statement in the closed hearing.
She's been clear with her displeasure at the deal that allowed Boucher to avoid incarceration and get HYTA a deal an advocacy group and the lead Larry Nassar prosecutor have questioned on a legal basis.
But Conlin, she said, explained in the hearing Monday that he hadn't meant to cause her more harm and that he called her case "unusual" not because of how long it took her to come forward as can happen with sex assault survivors but just because it was an older case. She appreciated that.
She also appreciated the jail sentence, though suspended. And she appreciated learning the prosecutor's office has some training planned with the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence.
Before coming forward, the woman suffered self-harm, an eating disorder, and from substance use disorder. And the criminal justice process made her feel revictimized, she said.
But she's proud of herself for coming forward and getting through this, she said.
"I'm so glad that even if this wasn't the outcome that I was hoping for, that it worked out in the end, in some capacity," she said.
Meanwhile, Szydlak issued the following statements via email:
"Everyone is quick to judge without knowing all the facts. Eleven years have passed and there most certainly appears to be revisionist history by the complainant in this case. That is evident by the inconsistent and embellished statements made by her.
"Reid Boucher is a genuine, caring and hard working young man.
"We were prepared to go to trial, but the prosecution presented a fair deal and Reid chose what was best for his family."
In a follow-up email, she added: "I want to compliment Judge Conlin, the Prosecutor's Office, and the Probation Department for recognizing that this was the proper disposition in this case. It does not happen often, and it should be respected when it occurs."
The Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment, citing the nonpublic nature of the case.
Doesn't even have to register as a sex offender lmfao