Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp explained why prosecutors did not seek a life sentence or the death penalty for a former Hamilton County teacher who was sentenced to sixty years in prison for sexual abuse of students in his classroom.
In an interview with NewsChannel 9, Wamp explained that, based on state law, that was not an option for prosecutors.
“Based on the indictment and the convictions, the state did not have the option to ask for a life sentence,” Wamp said. “While he was convicted for rape of a child, he was also convicted of counts that required a merger of all of the counts in the indictment which resulted in the range of 40 to 60 years.”
She noted that prosecutors did not get to choose between requesting a life sentence and requesting sixty years and also questioned whether the law was playing out as lawmakers had intended for it to.
