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But with Good Behavior, He Can Cut the Sentence in Half

Jul 3, 2008
By .
Law

Consecutive, not concurrent, life sentences for a Texas man convicted on forty counts of sexually assaulting children.

A man was sentenced to more than 4,000 years in prison Wednesday for sexually assaulting three teenage girls.

A day after finding James Kevin Pope guilty, jurors sentenced him to 40 life prison terms — one for each sex assault conviction — and 20 years for each of the three sexual performance of a child convictions.

At the request of prosecutors, state District Judge Graham Quisenberry ordered Pope to serve the sentences consecutively, adding up to 4,060 years. He will be eligible for parole in the year 3209, according to the Parker County District Attorney's Office.

I don't practice in Texas and I don't walk into a criminal courtroom when I can avoid it, but I suppose all of this showboating could have been avoided by the simple amendment of Texas law to provide a life sentence without parole for child sexual assault.

Whatever the Supreme Court has to say about executing child rapists, this is a functional death sentence.

Last 5 posts by Patrick Non-White

6 Comments
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6 Comments

  1. Ken  •  Jul 3, 2008 @8:14 am

    Is a sentence that will likely result in the defendant dying of natural causes in prison a "death sentence?"

    So, a ten-year sentence for a 65 year old is, statistically speaking, a functional death sentence?

  2. Patrick  •  Jul 3, 2008 @8:16 am

    I could post a Rod Serling quote here, but I don't want to invoke the devil into offering this man immortality.

  3. Sarkus  •  Jul 3, 2008 @11:56 am

    I agree with Ken's observation. If you are going to sentence someone to more than 100 years or so, you might as well consider a death sentence and save everyone the time.

  4. Patrick  •  Jul 3, 2008 @12:00 pm

    Whose time would that be?

    You can apologize to the living.

  5. Robert  •  Jul 11, 2008 @8:32 am

    As the prosecutor on this case, I assure you that it would have much, much easier to have the option of life without parole. It would have obviated the necessity to charge multiple counts and occurrences. But, as pointed out, that is not an option in Texas for these cases. Further, Texas law presumes at the time the sentences are returned by the jury, that the sentences will run concurrently. In this particular case, the judge opted to stack the sentences, at our request. I assure you that the Defendant was made multiple plea offers for far less time. My attitude was, in the event that I am forced to try this case and to put these teenage girls through a grueling process, I am going to try the entire case.

  6. Patrick  •  Jul 11, 2008 @8:47 am

    Commendable Robert. I fully agree that this sort of crime warrants life without parole if not death.