Nearly 7 years for sex with teen

PALMER — Though he alleges he is innocent, a jury convicted Stanley James Edenfield of having sex with an underage girl, and on Monday he was sentenced to about seven years in prison.

Edenfield, 45, made a brief statement before he learned his what his sentence would be.

“I keep saying that I am innocent because I am,” he told Superior Court Judge Kari Kristiansen. “I’m sorry that everybody had to go through this, but I did not do it.”

But on Dec. 13, a Palmer jury convicted Edenfield of 11 counts of sexual abuse of a minor. At trial, jurors heard how he regularly had sex with a 15-year-old girl, the daughter of two people who were his friends at the time.

Melissa Wininger-Howard, the prosecutor in the case, asked Kristiansen for a sentence that added up to 30 years to serve.

“He shattered their home, their trust and their lives,” he said of the victim and her family.

Wininger-Howard referenced a letter the girl’s mother had written to the court.

“She never thought she would have to protect her daughter in her own home,” Wininger-Howard said.

She described Edenfield as a predator and a danger to young girls in the community.

“The defendant was a grown man who made a fantasy of having sex with a cheerleader a reality,” Wininger-Howard said.

Edenfield’s sister spoke on his behalf, saying that her brother is a God-fearing man who will make amends for what he did in his heart. Institutionalizing him wouldn’t have any effect.

Edenfield’s attorney, Elizabeth Varela, asked for a six-year sentence. She said that her client had been in no serious trouble before.

“Six years is a tremendously long time for anybody, but especially someone who has never been in jail,” she said.

Varela said that unlike a lot of offenders, Edenfield never forced his victim to comply.

“I’m not saying it was right. I’m not condoning any of this behavior. But it was always voluntary. There was no force involved,” she said.

At the end, Kristiansen said that much worse cases than this had drawn sentences well below what Wininger-Howard had asked for. But she didn’t have much in the way of kind words for Edenfield.

“Mr. Edenfield took advantage of a vulnerable teenager for his own gain. It’s rather pathetic. It’s clearly a violation of the law,” she said.

And, Kristiansen pointed out, Edenfield knew it was wrong.

“He was very concerned about being caught for it,” she said.

She imposed a term of six years and eight months in prison and said his prospects for rehabilitation are guarded.

“If you can’t accept the wrong that you do, how can you correct it?” Kristiansen asked.

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