BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A Raleigh County man was sentenced on Friday on multiple charges pertaining to the sexual assault of his granddaughter, an incident from which pornographic materials were also produced.
65-year-old Robert Hatcher went before Raleigh County Circuit Judge, Robert Burnside on Friday for a sentencing hearing based on charges upon which Hatcher was indicted by a Raleigh County Grand Jury in September.
Based on an incident in which Hatcher is purported to have provided his granddaughter with alcohol before taking advantage of her sexually and filming her in the nude while she was unconscious, the charges for which the defendant was indicted include those of First Degree Sexual Abuse, Second Degree Sexual Assault, Sexual Abuse by Parent Guardian Custodian or Person in Position of Trust, Child Pornography, Use of Minor in Filming Sexually Explicit Conduct.
Initially scheduled for last Friday, the sentencing was delayed following an effort from the defense to secure alternative sentencing involving supervised home confinement due to Hatcher’s advanced age and health issues. Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney, Ben Hatfield points out, however, that Hatcher’s age and health remain unchanged from the time the offense was committed, and served as no deterrent to his decision to sexually assault his own granddaughter.
“The defendant was in this exact same physical health condition when he was able to manipulate his granddaughter and commit this crime. So for that reason he shouldn’t receive a break for being in this health condition,” Hatfield told LOOTPRESS following sentencing on Friday.
“It’s one of those paramount crimes, in my perspective, generally because they affect our most vulnerable population, and a subset of that most vulnerable population of our children. But when you have a case like this [involving] the biological grandfather – these are the people that are charged both legally and culturally with taking care of these children. If they’re the ones that are exploiting them, it’s a paramount concern to the state,” Hatfield continued.
“We want to protect our children and we want to make sure that anyone that’s doing this kind of thing – one: in the micro, we stop them from hurting that individual child. But also in the macro, that we levy heavy sentences so that it acts as a deterrent effect to anyone that is thinking about engaging in this in the future.”
Judge Burnside ruled on Friday that Hatcher would receive an aggregate sentence of 12.5 years to 35 years indeterminate with no possibility of probation or home confinement.
In addition, should Hatcher see release from prison during his lifetime, he will be required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life and will be required to undergo 25 years of post-release supervision.
Factors taken into consideration for sentencing included potential for rehabilitation and signs of remorse, or lack thereof, from the defendant.
The case was investigated by the West Virginia State Police and was prosecuted by Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney, Ben Hatfield, who secured a “guilty” verdict in Raleigh County Court in November of last year.
Additional LOOTPRESS coverage for the Raleigh County area can be found here.
