NH Man guillty of molesting adopted sons in the 80's has been given 20 year sentence

NH Man guillty of molesting adopted sons in the 80's has been given 20 year sentence

DOVER — A 58-year-old local man who accepted responsibility for molesting his two adopted sons over a period of six years in the 1980s will spend at least the next 20 years of his life incarcerated.

James Halldorson, formerly of 56 Summer St., was sentenced to a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 40 years in state prison during a sentencing hearing in Strafford County Superior Court on Tuesday. He had pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and one count of felonious sexual assault on Sept. 11.

“I can’t disregard in any sense the harm that the criminal acts have caused. The harm that has been caused to these victims is harm which they will live with for the rest of their lives,” said Judge Peter Fauver, before granting the state’s sentencing recommendation. “Let me tell you, that if you did not live an exemplary life and this had been recent, and you put these kids through trial, you’d be looking at the rest of your life (in prison).”

A former administrator at Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine, Halldorson was arrested in November 2005 following an investigation by Durham police.

Halldorson, also a father of two biological sons, was indicted on four counts in February, with each indictment detailing multiple counts of sexual assault committed in a home in Durham between 1982 and 1988. Combining each indictment, a total of 40 counts were alleged, all of to which Halldorson pleaded guilty.

One of the victims, now 32, spoke emotionally at the hearing, turning the podium so it faced his adopted father, who was dressed in a jail jumpsuit and shackled. The victim was 9 years old when the molestations began.

“I’ve tried but I’ve decided I will never forgive you — you do not deserve it,” the victim, a married father of two, said. “You hand-picked us … we were adopted into this sick life to fulfill him. The actions of his molestations don’t hurt as much as that.”

The other victim, now 33 years old, also spoke, never taking his eyes off his adopted father. He was 10 when the molestations began.

“You don’t think you did anything wrong, and I know it. But you did something wrong,” he said loudly, leaning over the podium.

Halldorson, turning to face his victims and their family, said he was ashamed of his actions and expressed remorse.

“I have lived in a world of lies and deceit, a world of dishonesty,” Halldorson said. “Unfortunately, I succumbed to something deep inside of me that I can’t explain … I was wrong, I am sorry, and now I must pay the consequences.”

Halldorson said the molestations occurred during a period of alcoholism, for which he sought treatment around the time of the molestations. He did not have any supporters in the courtroom.

Halldorson’s attorney, Lincoln Soldati, fought for a lighter sentence of 71⁄2 to 15 years to cover all counts.

“There’s no indication whatsoever … that my client has done anything over the past 20 years but lived a productive, lawful life,” Soldati said. “He has accepted the responsibility, he has accepted the guilt for these crimes … there’s not a lot more he can do.”

On two of the counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, Halldorson was sentenced to 71⁄2 to 15 years in prison. He was sentenced to 5 to 10 years on the third count of aggravated felonious sexual assault. On a charge of felonious sexual assault, Halldorson was sentenced to 31⁄2 to 7 years in prison to run concurrently with the former sentences.

“Certainly these are terrible crimes,” said Prosecutor Eric Gentes after the hearing. “I think the sentences are appropriate.”

As a condition of his sentence, Halldorson will also have to complete the state prison’s sex offender program.


(Why don't children have the same rights as adults have when reporting a sexcrime? When will the courts stop torturing children for telling the truth?)

http://catholicsagainstchildabuse.com/id59.html
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