Dad sentenced to 60 years in prison for raping daughter (Chantilly, Virginia)

UNNAMED DAD has been sentenced to 60 years in prison and fined $50,000 for raping his daughter from age 6 to age 10. Despite DNA evidence, the father's family is taking dad's side, though the mother and her family are supporting the daughter. Some people just refuse to believe a victim, no matter what the evidence says. Especially when they're invested in defending criminals, molesters, and deviants.

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=333109&paper=62&cat=104

Chantilly Man Sentenced to 60 Years

By Bonnie Hobbs
Thursday, September 24, 2009

Some crimes are just so heinous, they’re hard to imagine anyone actually doing them. But to a little girl in Chantilly, they were all too true — and making matters worse, they were committed against her by her father.

Beginning when she was 6 years old and continuing for four years, her father raped her repeatedly. It wasn’t until she was 10 that she had the courage to tell a relative about the real-life nightmare she was living — and at whose hands.

But on June 30, 2008, Fairfax County police arrested the father and charged him with abduction, rape and aggravated sexual battery. And last Friday afternoon in Circuit Court, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

In sentencing him, Judge Bruce White spoke of the special relationship between a father and child and said fathers are normally "havens of safety and trust." But for this victim, said White, "Rather than finding safety in your arms, she found danger and abuse."

The incident leading to the father’s arrest happened last summer, and he’s now 38. Centre View is not revealing his identity or address to protect the identity of his daughter.

Police Det. Thea Haddix, of the Criminal Investigations Bureau, Child Abuse Section, detailed the case against him in an Aug. 1, 2008 affidavit to obtain DNA evidence from his person. She wrote that, on June 30, 2008, the girl "reported a rape that occurred on June 28."

The child was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital where she was examined and forensic evidence obtained from her. On the day the affidavit was written, police obtained a sample of the father’s DNA, which was later compared to that found on the evidence obtained from his daughter.

The father had a three-day trial, March 16-18, in Circuit Court and his young daughter took the stand and told a judge and jury what happened to her. Ultimately, the jurors found her father guilty of all three charges. They then recommended he pay a $50,000 fine and serve 60 years total in prison — 25 years for abduction, 25 years for rape and 10 years for aggravated sexual battery.

He returned last Friday, Sept. 18, for sentencing, and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kelly Pearson asked the judge to impose the punishment the jury recommended, in its entirety.

"A child’s parents are the people he or she should be able to trust," said Pearson. "But the defendant took an innocent child and taught her horrific acts, early in life. This victim is now in therapy, but the court won’t ever really know the [full extent of the] damage inflicted on her."

Unlike other fathers, who call their children’s names to have them do tasks, such as setting the table or taking out the trash, said Pearson, "When [this father] called his daughter’s name, it wasn’t to do chores. It meant, ‘You’re going to come into my bedroom and I’m going to rape you.’"

Since he’s maintained his innocence, the whole time, she said, "He believes he didn’t do anything wrong, so rehabilitation to put him back into society would be a wasted effort. We asked the jurors what this crime was worth, and they told us. They heard all the facts and that’s what they’ve decided."

Although none of what happened was the child’s fault, said Pearson, "This little girl is going to live with this, the rest of her life. And he’s shown so little remorse and compassion for his own flesh and blood, 60 years and a $50,000 fine is what this defendant’s punishment should be."

This whole matter has deeply divided the child’s family, with her mother and her mother’s family believing her, and her father and his kin taking his side.

"Those who support him believe this was a lie, so there’s nothing I can offer mitigating this offense," said defense attorney Mike Sprano. He then asked the judge to sentence the father below the jury’s recommendation "because juries don’t have the [legal] expertise a judge has."

Sprano asked for a sentence of no more than the state sentencing guidelines of 14 years, eight months. Alternatively, he suggested, "Run the sentences concurrently for a total of 25 years. It would be sufficient to punish him and to deter him from doing any such acts in the future."

The father then pleaded with Judge White for leniency. "With all of my heart and spirit, I’m begging you to have mercy on me," he said. "Give me a chance to go back in society and prove that I’m not the horrible person they say I am."

But the judge had the last word. "You show no remorse and I can find no mitigating circumstances," he told the father. "You may have been seen as a person of value to others, but this jury found you were a monster to your own daughter."

Then, sentencing the man to 60 years in prison and ordering him to pay a $50,000 fine, White said, "The jury’s verdict should be upheld as the voice of the community for these heinous acts."