19 years for sexual assaults

PALMER — A man convicted on 10 counts of molesting young girls was sentenced Wednesday to serve 19 years in prison.

Mark D. Anderson, 61, didn’t say a word on his own behalf during the hearing, though a handful of family members testified to his generous and loving nature.

He was arrested in 2007 after three girls came forward to say he’d molested them while they played with him. Two of the girls were sisters, but neither knew the third girl. At trial, Anderson and his attorney protested his innocence and at sentencing he didn’t change that tune.

Indeed, most of the evidence his attorney, Sam Westergren presented, seemed aimed at showing exactly why his client was innocent.

“He has a fragile mind. Whatever comes out sometimes comes out the wrong way,” said his ex-wife, Katrin Anderson, in explaining why Anderson, a former car salesman, never made a forceful denial of the charges when speaking with police, as one would expect if he were innocent. “He was not an aggressive salesperson and that is probably why he never made much money.”

Anderson’s current wife said much the same.

“He loses his words,” Jojean Anderson said. “They get jumbled and scrambled.”

Those testimonies were presented to try and prove a mitigating factor that the judge could use to decide to give Anderson a sentence below the minimum required by law.

But Assistant District Attorney Rachel Gernat argued that on the list of mitigating factors the judge is allowed to consider, Westergren was aiming at the one for defendants who have a medical or psychological condition that makes them more likely to commit the crime for which they were convicted.

She argued, and Superior Court Judge Vanessa White agreed, that in order to prove that mitigator, Anderson would need to show evidence that he committed the crime but had some medical or psychological issue driving him to it. Gernat argued that even if the evidence presented were credible, which she did not concede it was, it would go toward proving he didn’t commit the crime in the first place and thus wouldn’t prove the mitigator he was aiming for.

Westergren called a third witness intended to show that the harm done was minimal. Jonathon Husselton said he’d seen two of the girls since the trial and neither seemed withdrawn or showed other signs of trauma.

“They were usually generally very active. Good moods,” Husselton said. “They were never acting reclusive.”

But Gernat poked holes in Husselton’s testimony as well. Under her questioning he testified that his Army National Guard training in the identification of trauma in soldiers taught him that there is really no single way in which victims exhibit trauma.

White also heard testimony from the family of the victims, none of whom gave their full names, to avoid identifying the girls. The family members told the judge about how hard it was for the girls to have adults doubt their allegations.

“My children are not liars. And I will read that sentence again. My children are not liars,” the father of the two sisters said, reading from a prepared statement. He said he deals with their trauma every day, but is doing his best to find a way to forgive Anderson.

“I’m choosing to open my hand and offer forgiveness. It’s hard. It’s very hard.”

In the end, White said she didn’t disagree that Anderson was kind, generous and loving husband, brother and friend. It’s possible, she said, that he is guilty and yet still has all of those qualities.

But, “They do not comfort this court,” she said. “Mr. Anderson’s demeanor conceals a predator. And therefore he presents a greater risk to the community.”

She said the community has said repeatedly that it will not tolerate child sexual abuse.

“Sexual assault on children is the most abhorrent offense we see in our community,” she said. “It surpasses even the most brutal murder in the mind of the community.”

In addition to the 19 years of prison time, White imposed 18 years of suspended time, which Anderson will be liable to serve if he gets out of prison and then re-offends. Westergren indicated that his client intends to appeal his conviction.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.