Commission: Eliminate loophole in child sex abuse sentencing

HELENA — The state Commission on Sentencing is recommending lawmakers close a loophole in child sex abuse sentencing laws that allowed an eastern Montana man to be put on probation after pleading guilty to raping his 12-year-old daughter.

State prosecutor Dan Guzynski proposed Wednesday eliminating an exception to a mandatory minimum 25-year prison sentence for offenders convicted of rape, incest or sexual abuse if the victim is age 12 or younger.

Under the current exception, an offender can receive a lesser sentence if a psychosexual evaluation determines the offender can be treated in their community, and the sentence protects the victim and society. Guzynski argued it does not make sense that a community could be safer with a child rapist present.

“This legislation is not a knee-jerk reaction to what happened in Glasgow,” Guzynski told committee members, but the recent case did serve as an example of a lack of consistency in sentencing.

He noted a man he prosecuted in Great Falls last year received the mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years without parole after being convicted of raping his 10-year-old daughter.

“Both evaluators said they were treatable in their community, both were sentenced under the very same law, both raped their children,” he said. “One is going to spend the next 25 years in prison and one is out on probation.”

The Glasgow case led to a social media backlash against sentencing Judge John McKeon.

An online petition calling for his impeachment had gathered nearly 31,000 signatures in less than a week. McKeon issued a statement last week defending his Oct. 4 sentencing under the exception and noted that the girl’s mother and grandmother supported keeping the man in the community.

Guzynski’s recommendation was included in a bill being forwarded to the Legislature that proposes revisions to several sentencing laws.

The state Commission on Sentencing — which included legislators, judges and others — considered several recommendations made by the Council of State Government’s Justice Center after it reviewed Montana’s criminal justice system with an eye toward reducing costs and recidivism.