SULPHUR — A prosecutor resigned abruptly Wednesday amid public outrage over a negotiated plea that gave probation to a man who brutally raped and sodomized a 13-year-old girl at a Baptist church camp.

Prosecutor David Pyle had been an assistant district attorney in Murray County for nearly four years.

His boss announced Pyle's resignation Wednesday afternoon, saying he disliked the way the case was handled.

"I want it to be known that I strongly disagree with the lenient manner in which the Benjamin Petty case in Murray County was prosecuted in many respects," District Attorney Craig Ladd stated in a prepared statement. "The manner in which that case was prosecuted does not reflect my thoughts or position on how rapists, especially those who prey on children, should be dealt with in the criminal justice system."