Photo: Jerry Studdard
An Ozark County man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on two counts of statutory sodomy of a child.
The Ozark County Times reports Gainesville resident Jerry Studdard was sentenced during a hearing late last month before Circuit Judge Craig Carter. Studdard’s attorney, Stuart Paul Huffman of Springfield, has filed a notice of appeal to the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District in response to the sentencing.
Studdard was found guilty during an Oct. 20 jury trial for subjecting a female victim to deviate sexual intercourse by touching her genitalia in 2007 when she was 11 and again in 2008 when she was 12.
Circuit Judge Craig Carter presided over the trial. Former Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant served as the prosecutor.
After finding Studdard guilty of the two counts, the Ozark County jury took 15 minutes to make a recommendation on punishment. The jury recommended a 10-year prison sentence on the first count and a five-year prison sentence on the second count.
Both were the lowest possible sentences available for the convictions. The two charges could have included a range of punishment of up to life imprisonment.
Carter couldn’t legally impose a sentence that was higher than the jury recommendation. Judges can sometimes impose a lower sentence, but because the jury recommended the lowest possible sentence in these cases, it was unlikely that the 10 and five-year sentences would change.
The sentences will run consecutively, or after one another, for a total of 15 years.
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