Studdard sentenced to 15 years for statutory sodomy of a child

Gainesville resident Jerry Studdard was sentenced to a collective 15 years in prison during a sentencing hearing held Dec. 22 before Circuit Judge Craig Carter. Studdard’s attorney Stuart Paul Huffman of Springfield filed a notice of appeal Monday to the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District in response to the sentencing. 

Studdard was found guilty during an Oct. 20 jury trial of two counts of statutory sodomy of a child in the first degree for subjecting a female victim to deviate sexual intercourse by touching her genitalia in 2007 when she was 11, and again in 2008 when she was 12. 

Circuit Judge Craig Carter presided over the trial. Former Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant served as the prosecutor.

After finding Studdard guilty of the two counts, the Ozark County jury took 15 minutes to make a recommendation on punishment. The jury recommended a 10 year prison sentence on the first count and a 5 year prison sentence on the second count. 

Both were the lowest possible sentences available for the convictions. The two charges could have included a range of punishment of up to life imprisonment.

It is thought that lower sentences were recommended due to Studdard’s lack of criminal record and the amount of time that had passed since the incidents occurred. 

Carter couldn’t legally impose a sentence that was higher than the jury recommendation. Judges can sometimes impose a lower sentence, but because the jury recommended the lowest possible sentence in these cases, it was unlikely that the 10 and 5-year sentences would change. 

Carter was able to say whether the two sentences could have run concurrently, meaning at the same time, for a total of 10 years, or consecutively, or after one another, for a total of 15 years. Carter imposed the longer sentence.