Judge tosses out plea deal for man accused of sexually assaulting children

A judge has thrown out a plea deal for a man accused of sexually assaulting children in the Springfield area.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20151001/THISJUSTIN/710019953

Judge tosses out plea deal for man accused of sexually assaulting children Posted: Sep 29, 2015 10:42 PM EDT Updated: Sep 29, 2015 11:40 PM EDT By WCAX NewsCONNECT http://2.Judge tosses out plea deal in sex case By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT | October 01,2015 Email Article Print Article Anthony Chase WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Judge Nancy Corsones told a packed courtroom she was rejecting a plea agreement in a Springfield molesting case involving multiple children. “I’m not taking the deal,” she said Tuesday in White River Junction criminal court. “I don’t think seven years is enough for the destruction of the lives of several children,” The judge surprised both the posecution and the defense with her last-minute rejection of the plea agreement in the case of Anthony Chase, 36, who faced multiple felony charges of lewd and lascivious conduct with children. “When all is said and done, I’ve got to go home and face myself in the mirror,” Corsones said. “I realize this is a big deal for everyone involved. I don’t reject plea agreements lightly,” she said. “I’ve thought long and hard about this (and) these children deserve to go up into their teens and 20s knowing that this defendant is still incapacitated.” Chase was accused in 2012 of molesting as many as eight children over several years. Earlier this year, he agreed to enter conditional guilty pleas to multiple felony counts. The judge’s rejection of the agreement means those pleas are withdrawn. State’s Attorney Michael Kainen and defense attorney David Scherr were expecting Tuesday’s hearing to formalize a 15-to-30-year sentence they negotiated. The plea agreement called for all but seven years to be suspended and for Chase to be released in 2022 if he had completed sex offender treatment. Prior to rejecting that deal, the judge spent considerable time discussing a probation officer’s pre-sentencing investigation report and a psychological-sexual evaluation conducted by an outside expert at state expense. “It’s pretty clear from the (reports) that at this time he is not accepting responsibility,” Corsones said of Chase. Kainen argued that if Chase did not eventually accept responsibility for his crimes, he would not be allowed in sex offender treatment, and that would keep him in jail for the maximum time in his sentence. “If he doesn’t admit this, then he is going to be in there until he’s 66 years old,” Kainen said. Several parents and one of Chase’s alleged victims, now a teenager, delivered emotional victims’ impact statements. “These children’s lives have been changed forever,” one mother said. When it came to her daughter, she said, “He has robbed her of her childhood ... and deserves a harsher sentence.” Another child’s father said, “It takes a monster to do what he did.” Scherr argued that prior to his arrest in 2012, Chase did not have any criminal history and that Chase himself had been molested while growing up. “There is no dispute that he was the victim of severe sexual abuse as a child,” the defense attorney said. “Mr. Chase’s history is part of the tragedy of this case.” Chase delivered a brief statement to the court: “I am truly, deeply sorry. I know that this affects more than just me. It’s not just the victims. It’s also everybody in my family. I look forward to receiving the treatments.” After tossing out the plea deal, Corsones gave both sides a month to decide whether to negotiate a new agreement or take the case to trial./-JWWL-yZp3Zo/VguxLIkIjnI/AAAAAAAAWdQ/n9aenhi9jPc/s1600/Anthony_Chase-.jpg