‘You are a danger to society’: Local man sentenced to four life sentences for lewd conduct, rape of young victim
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POCATELLO — A local man who sexually abused a girl for years and faced multiple felony child porn charges was sentenced Thursday afternoon.
After a trial, Jonathan Ryan Alexander was found guilty of the following felonies: 16 counts of child porn, two counts of lewd conduct with a child, child sexual abuse, tampering with evidence and two counts of rape under the age of 16.
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District Judge Javier Gabiola sentenced Alexander to four life sentences without the chance of parole.
“You, sir, are a sexual predator,” Gabiola said. “You can shake your head till the cows come home. That is what you are. That is exactly what you are.”
The case began after the victim reported to the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office about the abuse by Alexander.
The victim told investigators that the sexual abuse started at the age of 8 and continued until she reached out to law enforcement when she was 14.
The charges of child porn stemmed from a search of two phones from Alexander, which contained around 1,000 images of child pornography. Many of the images involved girls performing sexual acts.
Six videos were found of the victim, either nude or dressed provocatively.
The charge of attempted witness intimidation was dismissed.
Sentencing
Beginning the sentencing, Alexander’s attorney, John Malek, told the court that his goal was to convince the court that rehabilitation should be the primary focus for Alexander.
His client’s psychosexual evaluation marked Alexander as having rehabilitation potential, Malek said said. This is due to his low recidivism score, which places him in the moderate to low range of risk for reoffending.
While understanding the need for punishment, Malek argued that Alexander would be in prison and the parole board could monitor his progress before determining him to be eligible for parole.
He said he has seen the board send prisoners back, and if there is any concern or issue, it extends a person’s sentence even longer.
Malek’s main concern is that a lengthy sentence means the Idaho Department of Correction is sometimes unwilling to support treatment.
For these reasons, Malek recommended a five-year fixed sentence and an indeterminate sentence of 35 years to life, allowing Alexander to work with the parole board to initiate rehabilitation and serve his punishment.
Bannock County Assistant Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jonathan Radford, representing the state, said he often kept his remarks short, but due to the egregious nature of this case, he would not.
He said Alexander’s conduct during the time these crimes occurred was calculated and reached a level of manipulation, sexual deviancy and opportunistic behavior that had significant impact on public safety.
“They are alarming, Your Honor, in the scope of their cruelty,” Radford said.
Radford said that during the trial, the jury and court learned that Alexander began grooming the victim at the age of 8.
The victim, who testified during the trial, discussed how Alexander would show her pornographic videos to normalize that behavior and to prepare her for abuse.
It was also at that age that he began to touch her inappropriately.
What drew a point of contention during the sentencing was Radford’s statements on the change to Idaho law regarding lewd conduct of a minor to involve capital punishment.
Although not a factor in this case, Radford noted that the state’s amendment of the statute to permit this type of punishment is a sign that the people of Idaho are growing tired of these types of crimes. It was also a measure of how serious cases like this were, placing it close to first-degree murder.
Returning to the depravity of Alexander’s message, Radford said that from the age of 8, and as the years progressed, the sexual abuse began to ramp up until the victim said it was enough.
There were times when the victim told Alexander she was done with the abuse, and she expressed during the trial that Alexander would take it out on her or her family.
This involved Alexander giving her a gun and telling her to kill him if she didn’t love him anymore.
Radford said two things stuck in his mind from the trial.
The first is that Alexander did not see the victim as a person, but instead as an object, a toy, and a thing to be used for his own gratification.
The second is lauding the victim’s bravery and courage to go through a trial, relive her abuse and testify against a man who was supposed to protect her.
Regarding the pre-sentence investigation and the psychosexual evaluation, Radford took issue with the report as it cited that Alexander blamed the victim and denied he did anything wrong.
Another issue arose with the polygraph, which indicated that his answers to a series of questions were deceptive. These involved whether he had sexually abused the victim, using force or violence to complete a sexual act against someone’s wishes or having sex with a person under the age of 18.
“Due to these facts as they were presented and the sentencing materials, the state has no faith this defendant can be rehabilitated,” Radford said.
Radford recommended a sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole on all of his charges on the case of lewd conduct, child sexual abuse and rape.
“To be frank, Your Honor, I don’t care what you do with the rest,” Radford said.
Gabiola, before sentencing Alexander, said the actions done to the victim in this case are the most reprehensible he has ever seen. He spoke of Alexander’s reluctance to accept that this had ever happened, saying Alexander had no remorse.
“To think you do, I think you’re joking and you’re kidding everybody else,” Gabiola said.
Considering the option of probation, Gabiola said he believes Alexander would likely find another victim if this were an option.
“You are a danger to society,” Gabiola said. “You, sir, are going to spend the rest of your life in prison.”