10-04-2010, 05:22 PM
his sentencing:
Corde Honea looked out into the audience of the district court room and offered a heartfelt apology to the victims of his crimes Wednesday morning prior to his sentencing.
District Judge Paul Korslund sentenced the 19-year-old Honea to 36 to 60 months in prison for intentional child abuse, 24-60 months for a separate charge of burglary and 12-24 months for possession of a stolen firearm.
Those sentences will be served concurrently and he was given credit for 235 days already spent in jail.
Honea will be eligible for parole in 18 months, which figures to about 10 months once credit is given for time already served.
Honea was convicted of intentional child abuse after pleading guilty to actions that occurred in January when he duct taped his girlfriend’s 22-month-old son to the wall.
He also pled guilty to stealing firearms from different residences in Beatrice. Prior to his sentencing, Honea took full responsibility for his actions and apologized to all victims.
“I can’t fully believe what happened on those days,” Honea said. “I do take full responsibility. They can say I was the one completely behind it. I’m not going to accept or deny that allegation, but I do find it even more troubling that I can do that, given what the presentence investigation showed happened to me as a child. That makes it even worse on myself.”
Honea went on to address the victims of his burglaries. Prior to Honea’s statements, his attorney, Stephanie Clark mentioned how Honea tried to return the stolen firearms to the victims before being arrested.
Honea reiterated that point, but said he doesn’t deserve forgiveness.
“I can’t sit here and ask for their forgiveness because I can’t forgive myself,” Honea said as he looked at his victims in the audience. “Maybe someday I’ll deserve forgiveness, but not today. I’ve spent a significant amount of time in jail already, but I know whatever you give me, I’ll see as fair. All I can say is I’m sorry.”
In an attempt to keep his sentence minimal, Clark explained that the photos of the child duct taped to the wall showed that the tape was applied to his clothes, not his bare skin.
Clark also cited that it’s “troubling” that there are sites on the Internet of kids taped to the wall. She believed what Honea did “went too far,” but reminded the court of his age and lack of prior record.
“He can’t believe what he did,” Clark said. “The intent was never to traumatize the child or hurt the child. It went too far. We had an 18-year-old and a juvenile (child’s mother) not thinking things through and not realizing the seriousness of their actions. Hopefully we can attribute some of that to their age.”
Korslund said he appreciated the comments and apology from Honea but said one of the troubling things was the trauma inflicted onto the child and the fact that the child’s mother became involved, too.
“It appears to me you were the instigating factor in that,” Korslund said. “(The mother) certainly bears responsibility also, but you had the primary responsibility. I understand you had a troubled background and exercised poor judgment. That’s an explanation to some degree, but these crimes are very serious and the court can’t enter a sentence that will depreciate from the seriousness of what happened.”
Korslund denied Honea the option of a work ethic camp due to the seriousness of the crime.
“I think you need to do time,” Korslund said to Honea. “I think you need to take advantage of whatever programs might be available to you in the Department of Corrections. You need to have time to reflect on what you did and hopefully never put anyone, particularly a child, in this kind of a situation again.”
Gage County Attorney Randall Ritnour refrained from speaking prior to the sentence due to a plea agreement, but said afterward he felt the punishment was appropriate.
“(Honea) expressed remorse, which I think is a good attitude to have as he’s going into this,” Ritnour sad. “But I think it’s an appropriate sentence.”
As Honea was being led away from the court room, he came across Jim Gronewold, one of the victims of his gun thefts. Honea apologized again to Gronewold and reiterated that he tried to return the stolen property to the victims before his arrest.
Gronewold told Honea that he appreciated his apology, but told him “you shouldn’t have stolen them in the first place — that’s where you screwed up.”
The theft of Gronewold’s guns wasn’t one of the charges Honea was convicted of because of the plea agreement. Gronewold expressed frustration with the county attorney’s office. He cited Ritnour has touted his “no plea bargain” philosophy during his time as county attorney, but said that wasn’t the case here.
“I’m disappointed in the fact that they didn’t take into account that he stole from me twice with four days in between time,” Gronewold said. “In my opinion they did too much plea bargaining. Today really had nothing to do with my guns at all.”
Honea’s maximum sentence could be up to five years, which Gronewold said he’s OK with, but also mentioned he would have liked to see longer.
“I’m satisfied I guess,” Gronewold said. “He’s young and he’s going to learn some things the hard way. And that’s a sad deal. I feel sorry for the guy. I hate to see him go to prison, but if he doesn’t go now, he’s going to go later. Obviously he’s got some hard lessons to learn.”
Corde Honea looked out into the audience of the district court room and offered a heartfelt apology to the victims of his crimes Wednesday morning prior to his sentencing.
District Judge Paul Korslund sentenced the 19-year-old Honea to 36 to 60 months in prison for intentional child abuse, 24-60 months for a separate charge of burglary and 12-24 months for possession of a stolen firearm.
Those sentences will be served concurrently and he was given credit for 235 days already spent in jail.
Honea will be eligible for parole in 18 months, which figures to about 10 months once credit is given for time already served.
Honea was convicted of intentional child abuse after pleading guilty to actions that occurred in January when he duct taped his girlfriend’s 22-month-old son to the wall.
He also pled guilty to stealing firearms from different residences in Beatrice. Prior to his sentencing, Honea took full responsibility for his actions and apologized to all victims.
“I can’t fully believe what happened on those days,” Honea said. “I do take full responsibility. They can say I was the one completely behind it. I’m not going to accept or deny that allegation, but I do find it even more troubling that I can do that, given what the presentence investigation showed happened to me as a child. That makes it even worse on myself.”
Honea went on to address the victims of his burglaries. Prior to Honea’s statements, his attorney, Stephanie Clark mentioned how Honea tried to return the stolen firearms to the victims before being arrested.
Honea reiterated that point, but said he doesn’t deserve forgiveness.
“I can’t sit here and ask for their forgiveness because I can’t forgive myself,” Honea said as he looked at his victims in the audience. “Maybe someday I’ll deserve forgiveness, but not today. I’ve spent a significant amount of time in jail already, but I know whatever you give me, I’ll see as fair. All I can say is I’m sorry.”
In an attempt to keep his sentence minimal, Clark explained that the photos of the child duct taped to the wall showed that the tape was applied to his clothes, not his bare skin.
Clark also cited that it’s “troubling” that there are sites on the Internet of kids taped to the wall. She believed what Honea did “went too far,” but reminded the court of his age and lack of prior record.
“He can’t believe what he did,” Clark said. “The intent was never to traumatize the child or hurt the child. It went too far. We had an 18-year-old and a juvenile (child’s mother) not thinking things through and not realizing the seriousness of their actions. Hopefully we can attribute some of that to their age.”
Korslund said he appreciated the comments and apology from Honea but said one of the troubling things was the trauma inflicted onto the child and the fact that the child’s mother became involved, too.
“It appears to me you were the instigating factor in that,” Korslund said. “(The mother) certainly bears responsibility also, but you had the primary responsibility. I understand you had a troubled background and exercised poor judgment. That’s an explanation to some degree, but these crimes are very serious and the court can’t enter a sentence that will depreciate from the seriousness of what happened.”
Korslund denied Honea the option of a work ethic camp due to the seriousness of the crime.
“I think you need to do time,” Korslund said to Honea. “I think you need to take advantage of whatever programs might be available to you in the Department of Corrections. You need to have time to reflect on what you did and hopefully never put anyone, particularly a child, in this kind of a situation again.”
Gage County Attorney Randall Ritnour refrained from speaking prior to the sentence due to a plea agreement, but said afterward he felt the punishment was appropriate.
“(Honea) expressed remorse, which I think is a good attitude to have as he’s going into this,” Ritnour sad. “But I think it’s an appropriate sentence.”
As Honea was being led away from the court room, he came across Jim Gronewold, one of the victims of his gun thefts. Honea apologized again to Gronewold and reiterated that he tried to return the stolen property to the victims before his arrest.
Gronewold told Honea that he appreciated his apology, but told him “you shouldn’t have stolen them in the first place — that’s where you screwed up.”
The theft of Gronewold’s guns wasn’t one of the charges Honea was convicted of because of the plea agreement. Gronewold expressed frustration with the county attorney’s office. He cited Ritnour has touted his “no plea bargain” philosophy during his time as county attorney, but said that wasn’t the case here.
“I’m disappointed in the fact that they didn’t take into account that he stole from me twice with four days in between time,” Gronewold said. “In my opinion they did too much plea bargaining. Today really had nothing to do with my guns at all.”
Honea’s maximum sentence could be up to five years, which Gronewold said he’s OK with, but also mentioned he would have liked to see longer.
“I’m satisfied I guess,” Gronewold said. “He’s young and he’s going to learn some things the hard way. And that’s a sad deal. I feel sorry for the guy. I hate to see him go to prison, but if he doesn’t go now, he’s going to go later. Obviously he’s got some hard lessons to learn.”