Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Victim?s father unhappy with 7-year sentences


By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

The father of one of the victims of two Hailey men convicted of lewd conduct with a minor child said Monday that the sentences imposed are insufficient for the crimes committed by the men.

The man, whose daughter was 12 last summer when she was subjected to sex crimes by the defendants, said that Emmanuel Bautista-Aguayo and Jose Vivar-Olivera should have been sentenced to fixed terms of at least eight years in prison.

The Idaho Mountain Express is not publishing the man's name to protect the identity of the victim.

Both men were sentenced Monday to seven years in prison, with three of them to be served before either is eligible for parole. The two earlier pleaded guilty to single counts of lewd conduct of a minor child under 16 in exchange for rape and other charges being dismissed.

"I think it was way too light," the father said after Monday's sentencing.

"This ain't no closure," he said. "How do you help a little girl who just went through that? It will affect her the rest of her life. We were all hoping it would get better for her, but it's just getting worse."

He said his daughter, who is now 13, has lost interest in school and other things she used to like. "She is devastated, and the family is devastated," he said.

The man's daughter was one of two victims of 22-year-old Bautista-Aguayo and 23-year-old Vivar-Olivera, who were accused of picking the girls up in Hailey, getting them intoxicated, driving them to a remote spot up Slaughterhouse Canyon and having sex with them.

The men later returned the girls to Hailey where "they kicked their limp bodies out of the car onto the sidewalk," the father alleged, adding that the girls were passed out and he was unable to question them as to what happened until the following day when he called police.

"It was an abduction, and it was a rape, and it was all those nasty things we don't want to hear about," he alleged.

"Downplaying this is terrible," he said. "This community still isn't safe."

(Editor's note: Authorities initially investigated the incident as an abduction, but kidnapping or enticement charges were not filed against the two defendants.)




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