Man gets 20-year prison sentence

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

A man who last week pleaded no contest to three sex-related charges involving a minor received a sentence that was not as harsh as the state was requesting, but harsher than the plea agreement that the state originally had offered.
On Monday, Feb. 11, Judge Dawn Caloca-Johnson sentenced 44-year-old Jeffrey M. Bailey to 20 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of sex-offender probation, with more than 10 conditions attached.
The highly-emotional sentencing hearing saw testimony from seven people. Testifying for the state were the victim, her mother, and a family friend. Testifying for the defense were the defendant's mother, his half-sister and the latter's best friend, as well as the defendant.
The mother, half-sister and half-sister's friend all touched on Bailey's drinking problem, which they said caused him to be belligerent, show poor judgement, and be difficult to be around. At no time, however, had he ever exhibited sexually inappropriate behavior toward the half-sister or her friend, each testified.
The mother attributed the drinking, or more correctly its escalation, to an incident in the late 90s when Bailey had been injured in a fight.
“His drinking increased after that,” she said, suggesting that the drinking was a way for him to self-medicate and cope with the chronic pain from the injury.
Bailey in his testimony conceded
to “a cycle of abusing alcohol,” and blamed its escalation to a 1999 incident when got he got “jumped”.
“I couldn't afford surgery,” said
Bailey, a self-employed tile floor installer, among other things. “So I continued to work in pain and went home and drank to ease the pain.”
For 13 years he had suffered the pain, until finally being able to get surgery, he said. But he had been unable to get a handle on the drinking even after the surgery, although he had tried several times, he said.
Bailey said he knew that his drinking had led him to make wrong decisions and that it had hurt his mother and family. He was prepared to amend his ways, he said.
“I'm sober now and I plan on staying sober,” Bailey said.
Assistant State Attorney Andrew Deneen, however, made a point of noting that Bailey's current sobriety was not due to self-will on his part, but rather to his incarceration since mid-2017.
More to the point, Deneen cited several of Bailey's arrests on drug and alcohol-related charges, dating from the early1990s. Other than for court-mandated treatment programs, the prosecution asked, had Bailey during all that time made any voluntary effort to quit drinking or follow up on any success accomplished in the treatment program? The response was no, not really.
The victim and her mother gave highly emotional prepared statements, touching on Bailey's betrayal, his abuse of trust, and the lifelong ramifications that would ensue from his actions, especially for the young victim.
“Since I was 12 you did terrible things to me,” she said at one point in her testimony, weeping all the while and saying that she had now reclaimed her life and would be stronger for it.
Deneen in his closing argument asked the court to declare Bailey a sexual predator and impose a 25-year sentence. He argued that the Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI) and score sheet – tools used by the court to assist in deciding a defendant's sentence – “dramatically under-reflected what this case deserves.”
Deneen called Bailey's violation of his custodial role “especially heinous,” and characterized the defendant's initial inappropriate joking, tickling and touching, as “meant to break down the barriers.”
“Not all these decisions were clouded by the consumption of alcohol,” Deneen said. “The video voyeurism was sophisticated and reflected a sound mind.”
He noted that the state had offered Bailey a negotiated plea agreement that would have given him a 15-year prison sentence followed by 10 years of probation and Bailey had rejected it. The state, he said, was now asking for 15 years on the first count and a consecutive 10 years on the second, with sex-offender probation to follow.
“I'm asking for 25 years on these crimes,” Deneen said. “That's reasonable.”
Assistant Public Defender Davis Revell dismissed the suggestion that the defense's presentation had aimed to excuse Bailey's behavior.
“We just wanted the court to know what was going on,” Revell said.
He noted that Bailey had entered a no-contest plea to the charges, even thought he understood the risk he was taking in terms of the sentencing. Revell said he could understand the state seeking the maximum sentence if Bailey had contested the charges and sought a trial, but he hadn't.
He argued that the relevancy of the testimony that the defense had presented was to show that Bailey didn't have an inherently evil and devious nature. It was the alcohol consumption that had put him “in a position where he was making horrible decisions,” Revell said.
“We are asking the court to consider his alcohol consumption and his medical issues,” Revell said, arguing for a departure from the prescribed sentencing guidelines. “We're asking the court to impose a fair and reasonable sentence involving incarceration and a lengthy period of probation. Despite what occurred, he is not lost. He understands that what he did was wrong, but we want the court to know why he did it.”
Judge Caloca-Johnson took a 30-minute recess to make her decision. When she returned, she noted the highly-emotional nature of the proceeding for the families of both the victim and defendant.
“Sentencing is never an easy thing to do,” the judge said. “I recognize it's hard for family members to see a family member sentenced. Having said that, if you can't contain your emotions, you need to step outside now. I can't have outbursts in the courtroom.”
The judge's first pronouncement addressed the defense's request that the court deviate from the prescribed guidelines.
“I don't find that the defense met the burden so I won't deviate from the scoresheet,” Caloca-Johnson said. “The court will not exercise its discretion to mitigate the sentencing.”
She imposed 15 years on the first count; another consecutive five years on the second count, to be followed by 10 years of sex-offender probation; and five years of probation on the third count, with 586 days credited for time served in jail.
The judge additionally imposed a number of conditions, including a mandatory curfew, participation in a sex-offender treatment program, no use of the internet, no contact with children under 18 and active GPS monitoring.
In November, Bailey had been prepared to enter an open plea to the charges, with the sentencing set for Dec. 12. An open plea means the defendant has no agreement with the state and puts himself at the mercy of the court to decide the sentence.
At the time, the judge advised Bailey that the court had latitude to sentence him up to 35 years in prison based on the seriousness of the charges and the guidelines. True, she said, certain factors could cause her to deviate from the guidelines, but it was a discretionary decision.
“I can choose not to follow the deviations,” Caloca-Johnson said at the time.
Subsequently, when Bailey appeared before the court in December for sentencing, he expressed reluctance to proceed, telling the court that he didn't believe that his attorney was giving him the best representation.
At that time, Attorney Charles Collins represented Bailey as private counsel. Bailey told the court that Collins had done nothing but press him to accept the 15-year prison sentence that the state had been offering. He didn't feel that Collins was pursuing leads that could exonerate him, he said. This resulted in Collins withdrawing from the case and the court appointing Revell in his place.