A Brown County man who was sentenced to 48 years in prison for molesting four children will not have his sentence reduced, as he and his victims had asked.
James K. Reed, 65, asked the court to reduce the length of his sentence behind bars or allow him to serve it on work-release.
All victims wrote letters to the court supporting Reed’s request, which defense attorney Adam Brower, called “extremely rare.”
Reed was sentenced in April 2014 for sexually abusing the children over a 17-year period. He has been in jail since July 2012.
Police said Reed repeatedly molested the children between 1992 and 2009 on his property and on a boat at Lake Lemon and Lake Monroe. He was charged with 21 felonies and one misdemeanor. He threatened to kill the victims if they told anyone about the abuse, police said.
In their letters to the court, the victims did not deny that the crimes occurred, but they expressed concern over Reed having to serve so much time in prison. Brower also mentioned Reed’s declining health as a factor.
“I know it’s alot (sic) to ask but I would like to see him out as soon as possible even if it is still years away but he doesn’t deserve to spend the remainder of his life behind bars,” one victim wrote.
“I would like to see him get a lot less time because 48 years is way to (sic) much time. He may not survive that long in prison,” another victim wrote.
“He knows he did a bad thing and he regrets it. I would like to see him not have to serve all of that,” a third victim wrote.
Prosecutor Ted Adams said this is the first time as a prosecuting attorney that he has received letters from victims in defense of their abusers.
He said the state “adamantly” objected to any sentence modification.
“This is one of the worst cases I’ve seen. I didn’t live it, but I had to review it,” Adams said. “He’s one of the worst offenders I’ve seen with these type of charges.”
He called it “a safety issue” to keep Reed behind bars. “Clearly, Mr. Reed deserves, in my opinion, the sentence he received,” he said.
Because Reed’s plea deal was an open plea, meaning Judge Judith Stewart decided on the sentence shortly before Reed’s trial was to begin in March 2014, she has discretion on whether or not to modify his sentence after hearing arguments from both sides, Adams said.
But at an Oct. 30 hearing, Stewart said a law that went into effect in 2014 gives her no jurisdiction in this case. It says that a violent offender has one year from date of sentencing to file a petition to modify his sentence, and any request after that has to have the consent of the prosecutor. In this case, the prosecutor objected to any modification.
Reed is serving time in the Indiana State Prison and has about 19 years left on his sentence, Brower said.
Reed was present by video at the Sept. 22 and Oct. 30 hearings.
“All I want to say is that I’m embarrassed for what I did. I apologize to all I hurt and I have no excuse for what I did,” Reed said.
Stewart told the victims in the courtroom that even though the court cannot act here, the victims’ willingness to reach out and forgive has spoken volumes.
“The kindness you’ve shown here probably matters more than anything else this court could have done,” she said.
Editor Sara Clifford contributed to this story.
