Admitted sex abuser gets 40-year sentence

PALMER — A Wasilla man who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a teenage girl was sentenced to serve nearly three decades in prison during a hearing Tuesday in Palmer.

James Nix, 41, of Wasilla, was convicted on one count of sexual abuse of a minor in March 2015. He pleaded guilty in January to sexually abusing an unidentified female relative in her early teens at a variety of locations. Presiding judge Greg Heath sentenced Nix to 30 years in prison with five years suspended on one count of sexual abuse of a minor and 10 years with five suspended for a single count of incest. Nix also received 15 years probation.

Ordinarily, Nix could look forward to at least a third of that time being reduced for good behavior. However, good time reductions don’t apply to those convicted of sex crimes, Heath said.

“Community condemnation of these type of cases is a primary Chaney criteria,” he said. “These cases are destructive. They destroy families.”

Three years of the five-year incest sentence are scheduled to run concurrently to the sexual abuse of a minor conviction, meaning Nix would be left with 27 years to serve.

“If I’m being honest, that is a life sentence for Mr. Nix,” Heath said.

Harold Henderson, a counselor at Colony High School, read a statement on the victim’s behalf.

“I live every day fighting images in my head of the awful things that happened to me,” she wrote. “My life is no longer my own to live. My life is ruled by a system that is not friendly or flexible.”

Assistant District Attorney Melissa Wininger-Howard sought 40 years with five years suspended, given the repeat nature of the crimes and their similarity to other recent heavy sentences for minor sex abuse cases.

Nix’s prospects for rehabilitation are slim, Wininger-Howard said.

“I argued — and I still argue — that rehabilitation is guarded, because as the court’s seen in the pre-sentence report, the defendant attributes the sexual abuse of (his victim) to methamphetamine use,” she said. “I think that it goes without saying that sexual abuse of children is not a side effect of methamphetamine use.”

Public Defender Hannah Thorssin-Bahri argued a 20-year sentence should be enough. Twenty years in prison for a sex offense is different than 20 years for a property or violent crime, she said.

“Twenty years is not a light sentence,” she said. “Twenty years is a significant, significant amount of time to spend in jail, and I think that’s particularly true for Mr. Nix and others similarly situated. He, like my other clients in similar situations with crimes involving children, have to spend their time in administrative segregation, otherwise they’re subject to harsh treatment, death threats, and other types of abuse by others in the institution.”

Nix apologized to the victim for his crimes, and said drug abuse was his ultimate downfall.

“I don’t know how I got involved in the drugs, but I did, and I assure you that is why I am here,” he said. “Because I allowed myself — myself, I blame myself — for the drugs that I took.”

Nix seemed to take at least partial responsibility for his actions in his statement to the court.

“I wasn’t really understanding some of the things I was accepting when I accepted this deal,” he said. “But I wasn’t going to put (the victim) through going to court over splitting hairs with what was wrong and what was right. If that means I’ve got to serve 20, then I’ll do it. That’s what I deserve.”

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.