OZARK, MO – The Christian County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced today that on September 7, 2012 James J. France; dob: 9/3/1973 formerly of Strafford, Missouri was sentenced by the Honorable Judge Mark Orr to fifteen (15) years in the Department of Corrections. On May 23, 2012, in front of the Honorable Judge Orr, a bench trial was started. Following the victim testifying, the defendant, James J. France, opted instead to enter a plea of guilty to one count of Statutory Sodomy in the First Degree of a child less than 12 for events occurring between June 21, 2003 and June 20, 2006 pursuant to a plea agreement with the State to cap any sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections at fifteen (15) years. The range of punishment for Statutory Sodomy in the First Degree of a child less than 12 is life imprisonment or a term of years not less than ten years. Currently, for this type of charge the Department of Corrections calculates a life sentence as 30 years. This is a charge that requires a defendant serve 85% of the sentence before being eligible for parole. This charge also includes lifetime registration as sex offender and lifetime GPS monitoring.
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