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December 7, 2009

Stepfather given 324 years for molesting girl

Prosecutor says maximum sentence can withstand appellate review

By Christina M. Wright, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer

ANDERSON, Ind. — A convicted child molester was sentenced Monday to 324 years for performing various sexual acts with and to his 7-year-old stepdaughter.

“When people like the defendant in this case do this kind of thing, it seems that children think this is how life is supposed to be,” said Madison Superior Court 3 Judge Thomas Newman.

Randy Horton, 27, was convicted by a jury last month of nine counts of child molestation — six courts as Class A felonies and three counts as Class C felonies — for molesting his stepdaughter for nearly six months.

“I stick by what I said the whole time: I’m not guilty,” Horton told the court Monday.

Horton, dressed in green-and-white striped jail attire, seldom lifted his eyes from court documents Monday, and showed no reaction when Newman declared he would receive the maximum sentence allowed.

Deputy Prosecutor Stephen Koester noted during his arguments that applellate courts usually insist a case be unique in order to justify a maximum sentence.

“If ever there was a case where this case was different than others, this is the case,” Koester said. “It will live through appellate review.”

Newman and Koester said the aggravating circumstances in Horton’s case included the fact that the girl endured the abuse in her own bedroom on an almost daily basis for nearly six months.

“This was a systematic, ritualistic abuse that this little girl suffered,” Koester said. “A child of that age, their bedroom is their sanctuary; her bedroom was a torture chamber.”

Newman also listed the girl’s medical history as an aggravating circumstance; it was revealed during the trial that the girl contracted genital herpes — a non-curable sexually transmitted disease — from Horton.

Horton’s role as a trusted figure was also noted.

The judge said Horton’s lack of criminal history served as a litigating circumstance in Horton’s favor; however, Newman said, the aggravating circumstances overshadowed that fact.

In the graphic police report, detectives detail interviews with the girl. She described various sexual acts that her stepfather demanded and her mother ignored, the report said.

Koester said Monday that each felony charge accounts for each kind of act committed.

Due to the graphic nature of those acts, The Herald Bulletin is not publishing details.

“I’m not at all surprised by the verdict because, in my 16 years of practicing law, I’ve never heard such compelling testimony from a child,” said Horton’s defense attorney Bryan Williams after the jury’s verdict last month.

According to the police report, the molestation happened before school while the girl’s mother slept. The report said the girl told her mother what her stepfather had done after the first incident.

The girl was not able to recall that detail during her testimony, and a jury found her mother not guilty of Class C felony neglect of a dependent and Class A felony aiding, inducing and causing child molestation.

The girl has been in the care of Indiana Child Protective Services since March.

Contact Christina M. Wright, 640-4883, christina.wright@heraldbulletin.com.

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