Mother, boyfriend get life sentence in rape of girl

Mother, boyfriend get life sentence in rape of girl

Posted on Fri, Oct. 02, 2009

A Wichita woman convicted of prostituting her small daughter to a neighbor received a life prison sentence Thursday.

So did the man charged with paying for sex with the child.

The only difference from Sedgwick County Judge Greg Waller, who handed out the sentences, is that Reggie Stafford received three consecutive life sentences for repeatedly raping the girl, who was between 5 and 6 years old at the time.

That means Stafford, 52, will die in prison. He won't be eligible for parole for 75 years.

Prosecutor Marc Bennett acknowledged that may seem excessive. But he implored Waller to consider what the girl endured.

"And what is an adequate sentence for what he put this child through?" Bennett asked the judge.

The mother and Stafford were each convicted of two counts of rape and one of aggravated criminal sodomy. The mother was convicted of aiding and abetting the sex crimes.

During a trial in August, the girl testified that her mother would take her to Stafford's house, near where they lived in the Planeview neighborhood, and he would have sex with the young girl.

The mother, who is not being named to protect the identity of the girl, was also convicted of aggravated endangerment of a child.

Both Stafford and the mother had asked for lesser sentences.

The mother, through her lawyer, said she had acted as a result of lifelong abuse herself and acute alcoholism.

"She has lived in a world that is different from virtually anyone I have met in a very long time," said her lawyer, Brad Sylvester. "That is, abuse almost became a normal pattern behavior that she has been the victim of and experienced."

The mother sobbed as she pleaded with Waller not to send her to prison.

Stafford did not speak but his lawyer said he continued to deny committing the crimes.

"It's kind of hard to argue for mitigating factors when he is adamantly maintaining his innocence," said Steve Mank, Stafford's lawyer.

Bennett pointed to the testimony where the girl told social workers that Stafford paid her mother with money she used to buy alcohol.

"He did so by plying her mother with cash and other types of monetary rewards in order to gain access to this child, repeatedly," Bennett said.

Waller pointed to evidence he would not admit at trial that showed that Stafford had sex with the woman's other two daughters when they were children. They are now grown.

Stafford was not be charged with those crimes because the statute of limitations had run out. But Waller could consider the evidence during the sentencing.

"I believe you had sexual contact with every female in that family before they reached the age of consent," Waller said.

http://www.kansas.com/news/story/995424.html