California man gets 1,503 years in prison for raping
teen daughter.
CRIME
The
41-year-old California man was sentenced Friday to the longest-known prison
sentence in Fresno Superior Court history
The
Associated Press are avoiding naming the man because it could
identify his daughter.
In
announcing the punishment, Judge Edward Sarkisian Jr. told the man he is a
“serious danger to society” and noted that he had never shown remorse and has
blamed his daughter for his predicament.
The
man’s daughter was first sexually abused by a family friend but instead of
protecting her, he turned her into “a piece of property,” prosecutor Nicole
Galstan said.
The
victim was raped two to three times a week from May 2009 to May 2013, when the
girl got the courage to leave him, Galstan said.
A
jury found him guilty of 186 felony counts of sexual assault,
including dozens of counts of rape of a minor.
“When
my father abused me, I was young. I had no power, no voice. I was defenseless,”
said the daughter, who now is 23 years old. She also told the judge that her
father never has shown remorse for her pain and suffering.
The
man turned down two plea deals. Before his preliminary hearing, if he had
admitted his guilt, prosecutors would have recommended 13 years in prison. He
rejected the offer. Then before his trial, he was offered 22 years in prison if
he admitted his guilt.
He declined that offer, saying he should be released
from jail for the time he already had served, Sarkisian said before announcing
the sentence.
“He
ruined her teenage years and made her feel like it was her fault,” Galstan said
in arguing for the maximum sentence.
Some
observers are comparing the outcome in the Fresno case to a recent one in
Montana, where a man who raped his 12-year-old daughter was not sent to prison.
Instead the judge handed down a 30-year suspended sentence after the man
pleaded guilty to incest and ordered him to spend 60 days in jail, giving him
credit for 17 days already served.
The
judge in the Montana case has come under fire for the ruling. District Judge
John McKeon defended himself against criticism, saying a plea agreement that
recommended a 25-year minimum sentence allowed for a lesser one, depending on
the results of a psychosexual evaluation.
He said that evaluation found the
defendant could be safely treated and supervised in the community. McKeon also
notes the victim’s mother and grandmother asked that the defendant not be
sentenced to prison.
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