Ian Cleary, 32, was convicted of second-degree sexual assault. Inexplicably, he was sentenced to two to four years in prison. That case, which occurred in 2013 at Gettysburg College, in Pennsylvania, would not be an isolated example. The appeal was only just raised to public attention following Cleary’s extradition from France. The case generated national media frenzy. Alarm bells went off on this case when Cleary allegedly communicated through Facebook with the victim, Shannon Keeler, stating, “So I raped you.” This sparked a serious discussion around the need for accountability and justice in cases like this one.
The assault occurred while Cleary was a student at Gettysburg College. After the assault, he withdrew from the academy and later graduated from college at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, California. His prosecution’s case against him got better the more the Associated Press wrote up the story. That article really exposed the justice system’s inability to pursue these kinds of crimes. Cleary was facing a maximum sentence of 10 years for the aggravated assault. Due to a combination of mitigating factors, he ended up with a significantly reduced sentence.
In April 2024, Cleary was arrested in Metz, France, on charges of vagrancy. This arrest allowed DEA agents to extradite him back to Pennsylvania, where he was indicted. Even the prosecution and defense had agreed to an initial four-to-eight-year sentence. They determined this recommendation on the specifics of the case and Cleary’s background. In sentencing, the judge concluded that the maximum possible sentence of four years would be appropriate. In reaching this decision, the court took into account Cleary’s extensive history of severe mental illness.
Cleary expressed remorse during the court proceedings, apologizing to Keeler and his father for the pain caused by his actions. His defense was that the Facebook post fell under his recovery efforts—he was attending a 12-step program. The defense tried to humanize William, painting him as a man who’d once been homeless. They claimed that he was entirely out of touch with how serious the charges brought against him were.
As lead plaintiff Shannon Keeler said in court, This is our day. She delivered a spell-binding performance about her experiences with the justice system.
“The system that failed me a decade ago finally delivered accountability, but at a cost,” – Shannon Keeler.
Keeler described the continued effects of the violent attack on her life and the lives of her loved ones.
“Evidence was lost. Time passed. My life moved on, but the impact never went away, not for me, not for my family, not for anyone who had to watch this unfold again and again,” – Shannon Keeler.
She stressed that her experience was not an outlier, but symptomatic of a larger systemic problem that many women have experienced.
“This isn’t just my story. This is the story of countless women,” – Shannon Keeler.
Aside from apologizing, Cleary said he would make sure to continue receiving treatment for his mental health condition in the future.
“I’m committed to getting treatment for mental health and stuff like that as I go forward,” – Ian Cleary.
The verdict underscores the debate that is raging across the country about treatment of sexual assault cases in the criminal justice system. Advocates, including Shakir, argue that accountability has to extend outside of individual cases. As they say, it needs to address systemic failures that allowed these crimes to go unpunished.