Posted on 06/16/2004 9:25:09 AM PDT by NYer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) _ A father was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison Wednesday for raping his 11-year-old daughter, who later hung herself.
Timothy Lucie, 46, stood stoically as Onondaga County Judge William Walsh imposed back-to-back sentences of 25 years to life for his conviction on first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy charges. Lucie said nothing before Walsh sentenced him. His wife, Andrea Lucie, hurried from the courtroom in tears, refusing to talk to reporters. She testified in her husband's defense.
``In all my years on this planet, I've never been at a loss for words. Today, I am,'' Walsh said. ``My sentence will have to speak for me.'' Walsh said he would recommend that Lucie serve his sentence at the Clinton Correctional Facility, in a special program that isolates inmates who may be at risk from other prisoners because of the crimes they committed.
Lucie was convicted last month following an eight-day trial. He also was convicted of endangering the welfare of a child. He has appealed his conviction. Lucie was accused of sexually assaulting his daughter, Valerie, in the shower at their Syracuse home Sept. 30. Hours later her 8-year-old brother found her hanging from her bedpost by a dog collar and leash in what police said was an apparent suicide.
A furniture business owner, Lucie confessed to the rape after a six-hour interrogation on Oct. 13. He then recanted as police prepared to put the confession on videotape. Lucie claimed his confession was coerced by police, who he said threatened to arrest his wife and take away his four younger sons if he didn't admit to the sexual attack. Defense attorney Ken Moynihan had little to say, other than objecting to prosecutors' characterization that Lucie was not remorseful about this daughter's death.
Moynihan said Lucie ``deeply misses'' his daughter, but prosecutors never gave him the chance to properly grieve because they immediately made him the subject of a criminal investigation. Chief Assistant District Attorney Christine Garvey asked Walsh to give Lucie 50 years in prison, saying he ``deserved every second in state prison that this court can sentence him to.''
Garvey said there is typically a time at sentencing when family members are allowed to speak on behalf of the victim. ``But there is no one from Valerie Lucie's family to be that child's voice. It is truly sad. An 11-year-old is dead and she doesn't have anybody from her family _ not her aunts or her uncles, or her grandparents, to say what a wonderful child she was, how she was loved and how she will be missed,'' Garvey said.
Instead, Garvey read a short letter composed by Leslie Plucknette, Valerie's former third-grade teacher at Fairbanks Road Elementary School in the Churchville-Chili School District near Rochester. Plucknette sat through the entire trial and was in her usual second-row seat for Wednesday's sentencing. Plucknette's letter described Valerie as an engaging, excitable child, ``a petite, little girl with a smile as wide as her braids were long.'' Plucknette said Valerie ``sang with the voice of an angel,'' and was the star of her third-grade class' performance of ``Charlotte's Web.''
After court, Plucknette stood in the hallway, showing off a photograph of Valerie at a party with some friends. ``If he stays in jail for 50 years, that would be justice,'' she said.
Several jurors also attended the sentencing. Foreman Michael Spado said he, too, was there for Valerie. ``That poor little girl only had 11 years. Fifty years is a satisfactory sentence but it can't bring Valerie back,'' Spado said. Spado said the jury was not allowed to consider Valerie's death as it deliberated the case. However, Spado said he personally held Lucie responsible for Valerie's death.
AP-ES-06-16-04 1209EDT
Definitely agree with the bad reporting. What happened to "facts"? (rhetorical, don't answer)
One article has the defense claiming that police wrote the confession and he signed it. Someone should be able to figure out if that is the case or not.
Shoot the damned writer and the editor that let this get by. The girl "hanged" herself. Girls ain't hung.
Here's hoping he gets "Dahmer-ized" in prison.
I expect the flames to be poured on you, but I see your point. If all the evidence that was presented to the Jury is in this article, then I too have a reasonable doubt. I have to trust that more evidence of his guilt was available.
Great update, thanks for answering that question for me. It does seem to be getting down to a vengeful jury......
"One can be raped and sodomized orally."
How? Do you mean mental abuse or do you mean forced oral sex? I can't imagine any male taking the chance on losing a body part by forcing someone into oral sex........
Haven't gotten flamed too badly. No one has accused me of being in favor of child abuse.
The strongest criticism leveled at me is that the suspect confessed in great detail. However, it's unclear if he did, or if he just signed a piece of paper. As other posters mentioned, accounts are contradictory.
One thing that bothers me is that they questioned the suspect for six hours before they appeared to have any evidence whatsoever that he did something. His family didn't accuse him. No other adult alleged abuse. No physical evidence for abuse was found.
I get a little nervous when someone gets questioned for six hours just because someone in law enforcement had a "hunch" that was not based on any evidence.
According to Merriam-Webster www.m-w.com, both are ok. The word "hanged" is used for official executions, "hung" for less formal executions, suicides, or homicides as the case may be.
Don't worry about it though. Spanish is fast becoming the US official language.
I would suspect you were a little unusual.
From the pictures posted this poor girl did not look as precocious as that.
I get a little nervous when someone gets questioned for six hours just because someone in law enforcement had a "hunch" that was not based on any evidence.
Me too. From one of the articles about the case -
"Police said that the young girl had taken her own life, by hanging. Searching for a reason, detectives began to look deeper into the case and an even deeper darkness emerged.
Under questioning, the girl's father, Timothy Lucie, admitted that he had raped and sodomized his own child the morning of the day she died."
Maybe he's guilty, and if so, he should fry, but it certainly makes me wonder how hard they "searched for a reason" during that six hours.
They should have ripped his b*lls off and beheaded him.
Hell isn't hot enough for this skank.
No, she didn't look well-developed from what I could see, but it's hard to tell. And FYI, average onset of menstruation is now around 11 (though it was still a couple of years later back when I was that age -- it has been dropping steadily for decades). And of course many girls beging menstruation before they are full-grown.
the church that they "belonged to" were full supporters of this man, and IIRC, they supported his release on bail......
also...I thought I heard murmurs that the suicide was suspicious.....
gee, Happy Father's Day..Mr. Lucie.....cowardly evil creep that you are....
I think they were of very modest means....
please don't make this "its mommy's fault" type thread....
the one guilty is the one guilty....
Evil truly exists.
Not my intent.
actually, I can believe that.....we women are believers and many are followers....
how many women and MEN btw, excuse Clintoon, excuse Simpson, excuse Micheal Jackson.....was I the only one stunned to see people partying at Micheal Jackson's place a few weeks ago in support of him?
sadly, this is the human condition...human weakness...in that we can't seem to see the forest for the trees......
She perjured herself at trial in an effort to obstruct justice. Prior to that, she defied a court order forbidding her to permit her husband to visit their other four children. For those reasons, she's lost custody and even in a place like New York, she's unlikely to regain it. I consider her an accomplice to this crime. That little girl probably knew it was useless to tell her mother about what her father had done to her. Can you believe the defense actually suggested that this 11-year-old girl tore up her own vagina and rectum with toys and that the girl's mother actually went along with that "explanation?" Monsters.
He should pay with his life but that's not going to happen. On the bright side, there's "Jenna's law" which mandates 6/7ths of his sentence must be served before his release. That means he'll probably be about 90 years old when he's released.
Any number of reasons. "Love". Fear. Her own personal history of abuse. Insanity.
Also under law in most states, a wife or husband may not be compelled to testify against a spouse.
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