Time cut for MC fill-in school bus driver-molestor

BREAKING NEWS

By Bryan McKenzie
MG News Service
Published: August 14, 2008

An Albemarle County judge on Aug. 13 knocked 10 years off a jury’s recommended 35-year sentence for a Madison County Public Schools fill-in school bus driver convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old friend of his daughter.

Circuit Judge Ford C. Quillen sided with defense attorneys in reducing the sentence for Oscar Robert Lemen, 48, of Aroda, who was found guilty in April of both forcible sodomy and object penetration. The jury suggested that Lemen spend 15 years in prison on the sodomy count and 20 on the penetration charge.
Quillen sentenced Lemen to 10 years on the sodomy charge and 15 on the penetration charge. The sentences would run consecutively, meaning Lemen likely will spend 25 years in prison.

Lemen’s attorney, Jack Maus, notified the court that Lemen would appeal his conviction. Maus also was appointed as Lemen’s attorney for the appeal.
Maus argued during Wednesday’s hearing that the sentence was too severe given Lemen’s previously clean criminal record and the fact that an earlier trial resulted in a hung jury. He noted that state sentencing guidelines, and the presentencing report prepared for the court, recommended the lesser sentence.

“I have great respect for the jury system and certainly this jury worked very hard and had a very difficult case, but I think they recommended an excessive sentence,” Maus told the court. “The jury’s recommendation is only a recommendation and it’s up to the court’s discretion to determine the final sentence. We ask that you use that discretion.”

Darby Lowe, deputy commonwealth’s attorney, argued that the jury’s recommendation was appropriate.

“These are vile sexual crimes against a child,” Lowe told the court. “Crunching the numbers to determine what kind of sentence the defendant should receive doesn’t take into account the hours of testimony heard by the jury or the suffering and trauma of the victim.”

Lemen, a former school bus mechanic and fill-in driver for Madison County Public Schools, was convicted after a two-day trial in Albemarle County Circuit Court. The charges related to incidents that occurred between late 2004 and May 2005 involving his daughter’s friend. The victim, now 17, reported the incidents to her mother in November 2005.

The victim testified that she slept on the living room couch when she stayed over at Lemen’s home. While she was on the couch one night, Lemen came over and began touching her. The abuse continued when she would visit Lemen’s daughter. The victim said she continued visiting because she didn’t want to upset her friend, who had previously expressed suicidal thoughts.

The trial was Lemen’s third on charges involving the victim. In 2006, Lemen was acquitted in Madison County court of charges of carnal knowledge of a minor. He was indicted on 18 felony charges in Albemarle last year and went to trial in October on two of them. The jury deadlocked on the charges, which were object penetration and forcing a minor to have sex through threats.

Maus indicated that Lemen would appeal based on evidence the jury should not have heard about previous incidents that did not result in criminal charges. He also said Lemen insists upon his innocence.

“Oscar says he didn’t commit the crime and I think that’s a position we will make on appeal,” Maus said after the hearing.

Lowe said she believes Lemen should serve the jury’s sentence and told jurors not to be frustrated by the reduction in prison time.

“I don’t want people to have less faith in the jury process because the judge reduced the sentence,” she said. “I don’t want them to feel that their effort wasn’t appreciated. It was important to the court and to the victim.”

Lemen will be held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail pending the filing of his appeal.