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Child abuser jailed for life
Published Thursday, October 8, 2009
An Opp man, convicted in August of sexually abusing a family member, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday by Circuit Judge Charles A. “Lex” Short.
Jimmy Allen Steele, 31, was convicted of sodomy in the first degree and sexual abuse in the first degree. His female victim was 3 when the abuse began.
It took a jury only 15 minutes to convict Steele on charges of first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse.
District Attorney Greg Gambril said the punishment was the maximum under law for each count.
“(Mr. Steele) was sentenced to life on the sodomy count and 10 years on the sexual abuse county,” Gambril said. “Judge Short then ordered them to run consecutively, which means that he will first have to serve the life sentence, then serve the 10 year sentence after that, instead of serving them both at the same time.”
Steele was also ordered to pay $25,000 in fines.
Steele’s acts were initially brought to the attention of law enforcement and Department of Human Resources workers when his victim “acted out” at school.
After a teacher spoke with the victim and discovered what the defendant had done to her, the teacher told the school’s guidance counselor, who then reported it to the proper authorities.
Gambril said the severity of the sentence shows that, “Judge Short has sent a message to all child sex offenders out there that these crimes will not be tolerated.”
Comments
Posted by lawsuit (anonymous) on October 9, 2009 at 7:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
now has he gambril,,,,, must not have been a person in the little covington county click,,,, but thank goodness that sob is behind bars thanks short good job!!!!
Posted by lookeyhere (anonymous) on October 9, 2009 at 10:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
lawsuit not quite sure what you mean.So your saying if he belonged to the click and he was a child molester there would be a not guilty verdict.
Posted by proudamerican (anonymous) on October 9, 2009 at 11:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We need more judges with the backbone that Judge Short has. Thanks Judge!
Posted by Blondie (anonymous) on October 9, 2009 at 1:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
No money will ever put back what this idiot did to this child. I will not call him sick, I know they probably tried to say he was when he did it!! Just put him in a cell with one of them Big ole boys!! let him see what it feels like to be the victim now!!
Posted by wikked (anonymous) on October 9, 2009 at 1:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank God this piece of trash is behind bars.I hope that the general population in the prison he ends up at knows what he is in there for and he deserves everything he will get, and then some.Finally an appropriate sentence for a child molester.Too often they get slapped on the wrist and I never understood that.
Posted by Ivarr (anonymous) on October 9, 2009 at 8:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Fresh meat. Ol' Bubba is gonna be happy To-night!
Posted by Elle64 (anonymous) on October 9, 2009 at 10:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree this was a horrible crime, but murderers get off with lighter sentences.
Posted by wikked (anonymous) on October 9, 2009 at 11:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Elle, this is worse than murder.Children of sexual abuse are screwed up for life.Very few of them have a normal happy life after somethinglike this.They are largely condemned to a life of hell and mental problems and in many cases go on to abuse children themselves.So one abuse can create lifetimes of hell for many people.We can NO LONGER tolerate this in our society.If him doing life saves just one precious child then I am convinced this is the right punishment.There is no cure for pedophilia, therefore we HAVE to keep them off the street.
Posted by dusty18 (anonymous) on October 10, 2009 at 6:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
wikked i agree with just about all you say. But there is ONE cure for that pervert. After he serves twenty. Give him death. I want him to suffer for twenty. Then go ahead and be rid of the tax burden. Just like i told the man who molested our child. (God forgives - daddys dont) I made sure that a bunch of people knew what he was in jail for. He was sentenced to three years and served 18 months. We didnt have a judge like Judge Short. Thanks Judge Short
Posted by wikked (anonymous) on October 11, 2009 at 1:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
18 months....that is insane.That judge should be prosecuted.I am so sorry this evil has touched your family.And no matter what you do to extract justice I surely would aquit you if i was on the jury .My prayers are with you and your family.
Posted by rutherfords_1 (anonymous) on October 13, 2009 at 10:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
HOW IS HE GOING TO PAY THE "FINES" WHILE HE IS SERVING HIS TIME?? JUST WONDERING ABOUT THAT....
I THINK ALOT OF TIMES THAT IS THROWN IN THERE TO MAKE THE "SYSTEM" LOOK EVEN TOUGHER ON CRIMES.
THAT MONEY WILL NEVER BE PAID....JUST LIKE MOST RESTITUTION OR FINES ARE. THEY WILL PROBABLY SAY....MAKE HIM PAY $2 A WEEK OR SOME RIDICULOUS AMOUNT LIKE THAT...
I THINK ANYONE (THAT IS FREE) CAN GO UP TO THE COURTHOUSE AND ASK THAT THEIR PAYMENT BE REDUCED DUE TO LACK OF WORK OR SOME CIRCUMSTANCE AND GET IT REDUCED DOWN TO NEAR NOTHING. NOT WORTH THE TIME TO MOST VICTIMS TO EVEN BOTHER WITH IT. SAD BUT TRUE
Posted by rutherfords_1 (anonymous) on October 14, 2009 at 1:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
oh well.....I suppose no one knows the answer to that one.
Just as I figured.
Posted by AceLee (anonymous) on October 29, 2009 at 4:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I understand that children are helpless, and that this will forever affect that child's life, but I don't see how this crime is worse than murder, which actually ends a life as opposed to psychologically crippling it.
Furthermore, child molestors are considered "diseased", meaning that most people don't find it logical to have sex with children: a point most people will surely agree on.
So, this imprisonment is a tax burden to me and the severity of the punishment will not "send a message" as the judge says. It's like telling a crack addict to not smoke crack: they're not going to stop; they're just going to try harder not to get caught.
I'm for rehabilitation, not imprisonment.
Posted by Timetraveler (anonymous) on December 10, 2009 at 6:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So if someone molested your child, you would want them to recieve counceling and "understanding" instead of seeing them punished?
Posted by Timetraveler (anonymous) on December 10, 2009 at 6:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
And another thing AceLee. You say child molesters are "diseased" because most people think its illogical for adults to want to have sex with children. Then that means homosexuality is a disease also, because most people think that is not logical either. Well most diseases can be cured, one way or another. All medicine is either designed to kill or halt the growth of the disease. Just decide which cure you want for these "diseases". Electricity, injection, gas, bullet, rope, blade...........chose your "medicine" child molesting pervert!! I bet you vote Democrate, dont you? I can smell a liberal 4 counties away.
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