Rapist gets chance to clear his record
A man who admitted to sexually assaulting a young girl repeatedly will get the chance to clear his record of the felony crime.
Justin McCally, 19, appeared in 22nd Judicial District Court last Thursday and was given a 6-year deferred sentence, designated a Level 1 sex offender, ordered to pay $1,585 in fines and fees and to complete sex offender treatment. And as a punishment for his conduct, given 60 days in jail, with credit for 32 days already served.
If McCally abides by a lengthy list of court-imposed conditions, the felony sexual assault charge can be cleared off his record in six years.
McCally’s victim sat in court and cried throughout the hearing.
District Judge Blair Jones addressed the victim before sentencing McCally.
“Don’t let this define you. You didn’t cause it. You didn’t do it,” Jones told the girl.
Jones told McCally that his conduct justified a prison sentence, but he wasn’t going to send a young man to prison because it would destroy him.
Nancy Rohde and defense attorney Vern Woodward had jointly recommended a 6-year deferred sentence with McCally being designated a Level 2 sex offender, meaning he was at moderate risk to reoffend. The agreement also called for McCally to register on the state’s Sexual Violent Offender Registry.
Jones designated McCally a Level 1 offender based largely on testimony of defense witness Hall Lewis of South Central Treatment Associates, where McCally is currently undergoing treatment. A prior evaluation had been conducted by a state examiner who designated McCally as a Level 2 offender.
A YOUNG LIFE SHATTERED
In a victim’s impact letter read during the hearing by a Victim/Witness Advocate, the girl told Jones how her life has been shattered by the crime. She is fearful of nearly everyone all the time. She doesn’t sleep. She suffers from panic attacks and depression and has considered suicide many times. Her family and friends turned against her. She struggles with an aggravated assault charge in the case being dropped and wonders if she will ever heal or feel safe again.
A defense witness called at the hearing testified that McCally does not have empathy for his victim, but that is something they are working on. That same defense witness also testified that the victim had been “maligned” by those closest to her out of a concern for McCally’s legal troubles. Jones himself asked the witness about the “high level of violence” in the case, which the witness said he really didn’t know about.
THE CASE
According to court documents, the Stillwater County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the Department of Public Health and Human Services (Child Protection Services) in February 2015 regarding a report of sexual and physical assaults of a minor filed by a school counselor.
The victim told investigators that the assaults began when she was in the third or fourth grade and included her having her hands and mouth duct-taped at times. Prosecutors had contended that McCally “brutally tortured and used horrific acts of violence” to keep the victim compliant, which included hitting, punching and choking the victim, as well as allegedly holding her head under “dangerously hot water,” according to court documents.
McCally was a juvenile when the crime was committed but unsuccessfully sought to have the case tried in Youth Court based on the following factors (according to Jones’ ruling) :
•A psycho-sexual evaluation that classified McCally as a Level 2 offender, meaning he is at moderate risk to reoffend. Also, the evaluator noted that the areas of concern identified are “very serious compared to other juvenile offenders he has dealt with,” according to the ruling.
•Stillwater County Sheriff’s Office Chief Investigator Woody Claunch characterized the crimes as being “heinous” with homicide being the only crime worse.
•Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Lindsey Fox said the Youth Court system would not have any services available to McCally even if the case was transferred to the Youth Court’s jurisdiction because he had turned 18 and was therefore ineligible for any services.
•Montana Department of Corrections Probation/Parole Officer Rita Frost said she believed that if convicted, McCally will be required to complete a sex offender treatment program, which normally takes from five to eight years for all three phases of that program. In the Youth Court system, McCally would be under supervision for a maximum of just seven years.