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STATE OF ARIZONA, )
)
Plaintiff, )
) Case No.
vs. ) P1300CR201600966
)
THOMAS JONATHAN CHANTRY, )
)
Defendant. )
)
Prepared For:
Cheryl Watson
Laura A. Ashbrook
Certified Reporter
Certificate No. 50360
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1 APPEARANCES:
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On behalf of the Plaintiff:
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YAVAPAI COUNTY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
5 By: Susan Eazer, Assistant County Attorney
255 East Gurley Street
6 Prescott, Arizona 86301
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On behalf of the Defendant:
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GRIFFIN & STEVENS LAW FIRM, PLLC
9 By: Ryan J. Stevens
609 North Humphreys Street
10 Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
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3 THE COURT: Moving forward with the
4 sentencing. On May 8, 2019 as a result of a jury verdict,
5 the defendant was determined to be guilty of the following
6 -- and please note when I give the count names, I'm going
7 to be giving the count names that are in the actual
8 indictment. We used an amended indictment for purposes of
9 the second trial, but labeled things 1 through 4, when
10 actually these counts were Counts 2 through 5, if that
11 helps the clerk.
12 The defendant was determined to be guilty of
13 the following: Count 2, molestation of a child, a Class 2
14 felony, dangerous crime against children, committed on or
15 between September 1st, 1995 and January 31st, 1996;
16 Count 3, molestation of a child, a Class 2
17 dangerous crime against children, committed in violation
18 of Arizona Law on or between the same dates;
19 Count 4, molestation of a child, a Class 2
20 felony and dangerous crime against children, committed in
21 violation of Arizona Law on or about the same dates, and
22 Count 5, molestation of a child, a Class 2
23 felony and dangerous crime against children, in violation
24 of Arizona Law on or about the same dates.
25 As a result of the jury verdict, it is
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1 back up. Your Honor, this man has stole so much from my
2 family. He stole the trust that my children had in us as
3 parents. He stole the trust that W and J and
4 D had in their parents, and I think as parents, Tom
5 also stole from us the trust that we had in those that
6 were over us, Bob Selph, Ted Tripp and others who were
7 investigating on our behalf.
8 And I found out since the first trial many
9 things I did not know. I did not know all the things that
10 had happened to M at 10 and the burden that he had to
11 carry because he couldn't tell us, as parents, what
12 happened. And I look at M . I think what a strong
13 little boy that was to have that burden that he had to
14 carry by himself, and it rips my heart out that we weren't
15 able to know -- I'm sorry -- that we weren't able to help
16 him.
17 Your Honor, I just ask that you give Tom
18 Chantry as maximum sentences as you can, because I don't
19 know if M was the first one that Tom molested, but I'm
20 sure D L was not the last and, Lord, I just -- or
21 judge, I just pray and ask that you would just keep that
22 in mind, all the things that he stole, all the joy that he
23 stole from my family and the other families involved and
24 that you would just give him the maximum, please. Thank
25 you.
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1 that may have had something to do with the case would like
2 to speak but --
3 THE COURT: Well, who would like to speak?
4 MS. EAZER: I don't know. I didn't ask. I
5 specifically said only family members. I didn't know if
6 that's this Court's preference, so I didn't want to
7 presume.
8 THE COURT: See who makes a request and we
9 can talk about it.
10 MS. EAZER: Is there anybody else?
11 THE COURT: Who is that?
12 MS. EAZER: Robert Selph.
13 THE COURT: All right. Thank you. I'll let
14 him speak. All right. Thank you, sir. When you get to
15 the podium, tell us your name and spell your last name for
16 the record, please.
17 MR. SELPH: My name is Robert Selph. Last
18 name S-E-L-P-H.
19 THE COURT: All right. Thank you, sir. Go
20 ahead.
21 MR. SELPH: I was -- I've known L and
22 L J and the kids for about 40 years, and the thing
23 I'd like to say is that I implicitly trust their honesty
24 and their integrity and believe that the testimony that
25 they have given over those years with regard to their son
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1 for my children.
2 I wanted to make that statement because of
3 statements that have been said about my family, and I want
4 you to know that that has not been my experience living
5 with this man.
6 We miss him and we do want him back. And so
7 I do ask you, Your Honor, if you would, to please allow
8 him to serve his term and allow him to come home and be
9 with us and see his children and grandchildren again.
10 Thank you.
11 THE COURT: Thank you. Anyone else, sir?
12 MR. STEVENS: No. Thank you, Your Honor.
13 THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
14 All right. At this time, Miss Eazer.
15 MS. EAZER: Thank you, Your Honor. I want
16 to first just briefly address some of what the Court has
17 heard this morning.
18 In preparing a sentencing memorandum, I went
19 back and forth about what to provide to the Court and what
20 not to provide because I did not in any way want to make
21 it appear that it was a character assassination on Tom
22 Chantry. I provided some of the jail calls not to, again,
23 attack his character but to show this Court I think what
24 is a very large element of this man's personality.
25 I will tell the Court that Miss Chantry
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1 children of the same age, and you gotta kinda wonder why
2 he was paddling a five-year-old and why he paddled a
3 five-year-old hard enough that the marks were still
4 present the next day.
5 That's the acts of a narcissist sociopath
6 but most of all, a pedophile. Can't stop. Didn't stop.
7 Any other wise person would have stopped after the first
8 time if this was not a problem. Tom Chantry didn't stop,
9 and I don't believe Tom Chantry will ever stop.
10 And he's very good at fooling people. He's
11 very, very intelligent. He's very well spoken, and he's
12 very good at fooling people, but he didn't fool the 12
13 people on that jury, and I know he didn't fool Your Honor.
14 And I would just again echo M 's
15 recommendation to this Court and more -- not
16 recommendation, a request, his prayer that this Court make
17 sure that Tom Chantry never has an opportunity to be alone
18 with a child again. Thank you, Your Honor.
19 THE COURT: Thank you.
20 Mr. Stevens, if you and your client could
21 please approach the podium. Thank you. Does your client
22 wish to address the Court?
23 MR. STEVENS: Yes, Your Honor, he does.
24 THE COURT: Go ahead, please.
25 THE DEFENDANT: Thank you, Your Honor, for
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1 asking questions like why exactly does your son hate you?
2 And she succeeded in her aim which was never to prove
3 beyond a reasonable doubt that I molested Mr. J but to
4 produce a sympathetic reaction.
5 Eventually she asked the jury the rhetorical
6 question: How many of you are mothers and do you feel
7 these mothers' pain? She succeeded. She succeeded
8 because the jury abandoned its instructions. It could not
9 rationally have said that it had no reasonable doubt, but
10 after days of emotional battering, the jury's collective
11 thought moved beyond the burden of proof to the perceived
12 need to do something. This is the only explanation of
13 what happened that is acceptable.
14 Am I supposed to believe that a jury of my
15 peers was incapable of understanding that when a man keeps
16 getting caught in false statements, he can't be trusted?
17 I don't believe that. I believe these jurors were
18 manipulated by Miss Eazer until they forgot to be triers
19 of fact and acted like social workers. Instead of we
20 believe; they said we care.
21 Probably the most important thing that Mr.
22 Stevens said in his closing was that the jury was to focus
23 on one narrow question: Did I molest M J . The
24 other allegations he said were for another jury in another
25 courtroom on another day. The jury probably thought that
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1 her family. But just like her father, Mr. Huber, they're
2 not people who would stand here and say, you know what,
3 even though we know he did bad things in the last
4 15 years, we're just not going to say them. That's not
5 the type of people they are, judge.
6 So, again, I would like to actually focus on
7 evidence-based factors that the Court should consider.
8 Karen described a positive marriage and Mr. Chantry
9 described a very positive marriage. Often in cases, you
10 see abuse of alcohol or drugs. Mr. Chantry has none.
11 Often in cases, you see mental health diagnosis,
12 medications or history of mental health issues. Mr.
13 Chantry has none.
14 He was employed full time, as verified
15 repeatedly in the letters. Mr. Chantry's attitude,
16 according to the presentence report writer, is positive,
17 positive towards supervision, positive towards any and all
18 terms or conditions and orders of the Court.
19 I would also remind the Court on that issue
20 he was entrusted with a bond. He showed up every single
21 time that he was directed to do so. He participated in
22 his defense every single time he was required to do so.
23 He showed up to two separate jury verdicts, not knowing
24 whether he would be handcuffed.
25 So as a reminder, Mr. Chantry has been
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1 that people may want to look into and read for their own
2 edification moving forward.
3 MS. EAZER: Could you repeat the last name
4 again, judge?
5 THE COURT: Vieth, V-I-E-T-H. Spoiler
6 alert. It's not good, not the book, corporal punishment.
7 Moving forward, I find the following
8 mitigating circumstances exist: defendant's educational
9 accomplishments and his intellect. He's certainly an
10 intelligent individual, his stable personal life, the fact
11 that from what I have been presented with, he's been a
12 good father, husband, brother and son. He's employable,
13 has a long work history other than the investigation that
14 led to the indictment. Even though he had multiple
15 trials, he has no criminal history. He has family and
16 community support.
17 I consider his cancer history, his
18 compliance with the Court orders pertaining to release
19 conditions and his age in light of the sentencing
20 structure that we're talking about here as well. I find
21 all those mitigating circumstances exist.
22 I find the following aggravating
23 circumstances exist: the emotional harm to the victim. As
24 I addressed before, again, the jury found that, but it is
25 patently obvious when you saw and observed M J .
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1 That is true.
2 A comment about that. One of the things
3 that struck me during M J 's testimony is that
4 even though we had an adult testifying on the stand, that
5 wasn't an adult testifying. That was -- he was back as a
6 child, talking as a child. I think that was pretty clear
7 and remarkable. So emotional harm to the victim.
8 The defendant took advantage of his position
9 of trust and authority. He used his role as pastor -- he
10 knew that M came from a strict religious family --
11 to convince the child that he deserved the abuse; it was
12 God's will and the child would suffer eternally if he
13 resisted and/or told anyone.
14 The defendant manipulated the victim's
15 parents so that he could be alone with the child. There
16 was not just emotional harm; there was physical harm to
17 the child as M talked about. There were multiple
18 victims, referring to J and W . There were
19 multiple acts of abuse as it applies to M and he
20 devastated multiple families. All of these mitigating
21 circumstances, by the way, so it's clear apply to each
22 count, 2 through 5, equally.
23 I find overall, therefore, that the
24 aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating
25 circumstances to justify an aggravated term of 24 years.
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1 state's perspective?
2 MS. EAZER: No, Your Honor.
3 THE COURT: Thank you. From the defense
4 perspective, is there anything we need to address other
5 than the right to direct appeal, sir?
6 MR. STEVENS: One moment, judge. Nothing at
7 this time, Your Honor.
8 THE COURT: All right. Thank you. Sir, you
9 have the right to a direct appeal in this case. You have
10 to file a notice within 20 days of today's date for that.
11 You are entitled to an attorney and transcripts for your
12 appeal as well. If you can't afford them, they will be
13 provided to you at no charge.
14 At this point in time, the defendant is
15 remanded to the custody of the Arizona Department of
16 Corrections and the defendant will have to go over and
17 take care of his paperwork and his fingerprint. Thank
18 you.
19 (Sentencing concluded at 11:22 a.m.)
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