NE Montana Man Sentenced to 100 Years for Incest

A northeast Montana man was sentenced Feb. 28 in District Court to 100 years in prison with 60 suspended for the crime of incest. He will also be required to register as a level two sex offender, complete sex offender treatment and will not be eligible for parole for 10 years. At the time of the crime he lived in Glasgow but had resided in Daniels County before being sentenced.

(Editor’s Note: For the privacy of the child involved, The Glasgow Courier has decided not to report the child’s name or the perpetrator).

According to court records, the man had started molesting his stepdaughter when she was six years old, and, although he was only charged with one count, the abuse occurred countless times over the course of years. Eventually, the victim reported the abuse to her mother who confronted the man and reported him to law enforcement. The man then confessed to law enforcement and mostly cooperated with the investigation.

The sentence followed the signing of a plea deal with the county attorney which did afford the man to ask the judge for an exception to the mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. The defense proceeded to ask for the exception citing the undue duress the man was under as a result of childhood sexual trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.

During the sentencing hearing, two clinical psychologists testified that his actions were directly tied to the trauma he had suffered as a very young child due to being sexually, physically and emotionally abused by his biological family. One doctor refused to mitigate the man’s actions through the abuse but did say that there was a causal link between the events of the man’s childhood and the crimes he perpetrated as an adult.

One of the doctors stated, “[He] was acting under a significant level of emotional and mental impairment,” and that at the time of the offense he was “significantly impaired.”

The defense attorney asked the judge to sentence the man to 100 years with all 100 suspended. He did stipulate to all the other conditions set down by the state to include treatment and registering as a level-two sex offender.

Under the judge’s consideration as well, was a victim impact statement, read by the girl’s mother, that made an impassioned case for the damages suffered by the girl, her family, her siblings and all those who knew her. In it she laid out how her daughter’s emotional and mental state had shifted when she turned six and her mother struggled and strived to find out why. She said that they had attended counseling, consulted child specialists and had even started treatments for anxiety and depression. She believed she was failing as a parent and searched for answers, never imagining that the problem was actually inside her own home.

“There is a saying,” said the mother opening her statement to the judge. “A child that is abused by a parent doesn’t stop loving the parent, they stop loving themselves.”

She went on to say that she had to endure, “so many infuriating comments which highlights the ignorance of sexual assault in this community and downplaying the significance of what had occurred. Comments like ‘She looks fine’, ‘It’s not that bad’ and ‘he doesn’t have a criminal history so he should have a lesser sentence.’” Those comments came from the man’s family and seemed to question the legitimacy of her daughter’s trauma and the criminality of what was done to her. The mother further asked the judge to send a message to girls everywhere that they will be believed, and justice will be done. “Show her,” she asked the judge, “that what he did was wrong.”

The mother’s victim impact statement was also an indictment of what she referred to as a “culture” surrounding sexual assault in the region. She recounted to the judge the personal experiences of women who had confided in her their experiences with sexual assault but were never believed.

“Over the past 10 months, I have learned so much about the culture of sexual abuse and the prevalence in northeast Montana,” she stated adding that women had made comments to her saying they things like: “I told my mother and she didn’t believe me,” or “It happened to me. No one believed me,” and “I am a victim of date rape. I didn’t tell because I thought people would say ‘You had it coming.’”

The victim’s mother then beseeched the judge, “Today I ask that the criminal justice system send a message to all sexual abuse victims. Show them that coming forward about their sexual abuse is important and will be validated. Show them that the perpetrator was wrong so the cycle can be stopped.”

At the end of her letter, the mother asked the judge to sentence the man to the fullest extent of the law. The judge did just that.

Rejecting the idea that the man was operating under a compulsion or undue “duress,” the judge denied an exception to the mandatory minimum sentence. Adhering to the plea deal, the judge gave the man 100 years with 60 suspended, meaning he could spend the next 40 years in jail. He will not be eligible for parole for 10 years if certain conditions are met. He will have to register as a level-two sex offender for the rest of his life indicating that he is a moderate risk for reoffending.