By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
LUDINGTON — A 21-year-old man was sentenced in Mason County’s 51st Circuit Court Tuesday, March 24, to 15-40 years in prison for convictions of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) — victim under age 13, assaulting/resisting/obstructing police, two misdemeanor counts of domestic violence and third-offense habitual offender.
Cooper
Sebastian Aaron-James Cooper pleaded guilty to the charges Jan. 21 just as his jury trial was set to begin. A second count of first-degree CSC was dismissed.
The victim of the CSC was an 8-year-old boy, and the domestic violence victim was Cooper’s father, said Mason County Prosecuting Attorney Beth Hand.
“This was an extremely sad and troubling case,” said Prosecutor Hand. “The defendant in this case is admittedly cognitively challenged. His attorney (Horia Neagos) placed that on the record in open court on more than one occasion. That, however, does not excuse this horrific act and criminal behavior. The agreement for a 15 year sentence was reached after numerous and lengthy discussions with the victim’s parents.
“There is a difficult balancing exercise in cases with child victims in general, and even more so with child victims of sexual assaults,” said Hand. “An 8-year-old child, in many cases, cannot truly even grasp the gravity of the situation. I, as the advocate for the victim, have to balance the punishment sought and deserved by the offender with the potential additional emotional harm to the child victim if required to relive their experience — not just relive it but relive it in front of a large group of strangers.
“After consultation with the victim’s parents and hearing their desires and concerns about the welfare of their child and balancing that with how to best serve the ends of justice, the 15-year sentence in the Michigan Department of Corrections was agreed upon to strike that balance.
“At sentencing, the court also makes a determination if the agreement serves the ends of justice. If the court does not agree, it can reject the agreement in its entirety and order the case to proceed to trial.”
Judge Susan K. Sniegowski sentenced Cooper to additional concurrent terms of two to four years for the assaulting/resisting/obstructing police conviction and 93 days each for the domestic violence convictions. He received credit for 579 days served in jail.
The charges stem from an offense date of Aug. 17, 2024, according to court records.
Cooper’s prior offenses include an Oct. 10, 2023 third-degree home invasion conviction and Feb. 13, 2024 assaulting/resisting/obstructing police and probation violation convictions.
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