A teen who admitted to taking a picture of a girl allegedly being sexually assaulted by a 16-year-old will serve no jail time and will also avoid probation.
The 20-year-old, who was 17 when the crime was committed, was sentenced to a conditional discharge and will also have to give a DNA sample, according to the CBC's Blair Rhodes.
In an agreed statement of facts read in court, the man acknowledged that nearly three years ago, when he was 17, he threw a small, booze-fueled party at his house with three other teenage boys and a 15-year-old girl. That night, he took a photograph of one of those boys, then 16, penetrating the girl from behind. She was naked from the waist down and was leaning out of a window to vomit onto the ground. The 16-year-old boy was smiling into the camera, holding the girl’s hip with one hand, and giving a thumbs up with the other.
Police had previously determined that there was not enough evidence to pursue sexual assault charges against the teen involved in the sex act.
Victim Rehtaeh Parsons was bullied for more than a year after the photo circulated amongst the boys' friends, according to CNN.
Parsons tried to hang herself in April, 2013 and died three days later after she was taken off life support.
Before handing down his sentence, Judge Gregory Lenehan said the defendant's actions led Parsons to "fall into a deep dark hole of despair from which she could not extricate herself."
But Lenehan also said the defendant "is not as morally blameworthy as an adult would be."
"This is not a court of retribution. It is a court that seeks to reform and rehabilitate the young person," the judge said.
The Huffington Post does not usually reveal the name of sexual abuse victims, but Parsons' parents have spoken out on behalf of their daughter and her supporters have used her name to help spread her story.
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