Monday\u2019s sentencing of a Woody Creek teen who pleaded guilty to violently raping two local girls presented two starkly different points of view.<\/p>\n
On one side was prosecutor Don Nottingham, who said Henry Henley, 18, was a dishonest, deceitful and violent sex offender with an anti-social personality disorder who will likely fail to complete the sweetheart plea deal he accepted last month. Henley\u2019s victims, by contrast, are courageous heroines who came forward to stop future sexual assaults, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The first girl who reported Henley\u2019s actions) is a hero,\u201d Nottingham said. \u201cAnd the other young women who came forward in this case are heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henley\u2019s lawyer, Trent Trani of Denver, had a different take on the situation.<\/p>\n
He first talked about how \u201cpeople including teenage girls\u201d make false rape statements to police and that to disregard the possibility of that in this case \u201cis not the correct thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Furthermore, mandatory minimum sentences associated with the sex assault charges Henley faced made it impossible to go to trial and challenge the veracity of the victims\u2019 accounts and examine their sexual histories, Trani said. He couldn\u2019t gamble on Henley\u2019s future when he was facing between 55 years and life in prison, Trani said.<\/p>\n
Henley was ultimately failed by Aspen schools, Aspen police, the Aspen District Attorney\u2019s Office and psychiatrists since he was 6 years old and diagnosed as having attention deficit\/hyperactivity disorder, Trani said.<\/p>\n
Finally, he tore into Aspen parents and society in general.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis city has some serious issues,\u201d Trani said. \u201cThe children in this city run amok. There\u2019s rampant drug use. The sex these kids are having in these high schools. I was amazed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without some deep civic reflection, \u201cthis is not the last time a case like this will be in this courtroom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Henley pleaded guilty in August<\/a> to felony second-degree assault in which he admitted to using his hands as a deadly weapon. That plea is related to allegations that he restrained and choked a 16-year-old girl before sexually assaulting her. He also pleaded guilty to felony sexual assault using force on another victim.<\/p>\n In exchange for the pleas, Nottingham agreed to drop 15 other counts related to those two cases and two others. He said Monday he offered the plea because of Henley\u2019s young age and to save the victims from the traumatic experience of testifying at trial.<\/p>\n Henley was sentenced to the Colorado Department of Corrections Youthful Offender System for five years. Assuming he successfully completes that program, he will face a minimum of 20 years of probation and a maximum of life. During the probationary period, he must take part in intensive sex offender probation and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He cannot ever have any contact with any of the victims in the case.<\/p>\n If Henley violates his probation, his probation sentence could be converted to a prison sentence, District Judge Chris Seldin said.<\/p>\n Henley did not speak in court Monday on the advice of his lawyer. And while Trani blamed nearly everyone but his client for Monday\u2019s outcome, he did acknowledge that Henley might be somewhat responsible.<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Henley understands he\u2019s not perfect,\u201d Trani said. \u201cHe has some work to do and he knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n Keegan Callahan, Henley\u2019s co-defendant, also was sentenced Monday. He pleaded guilty earlier this month<\/a> to sexual exploitation of a child and second-degree assault \u2014 both felonies \u2014 as well as two misdemeanor counts of unlawful sexual contact.<\/p>\n Callahan, 21, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, which will be followed by five years of parole as part of his plea deal. He also will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Callahan didn\u2019t speak in court Monday, either.<\/p>\n Abe Hutt, Callahan\u2019s Denver-based lawyer, also bemoaned the mandatory sentencing laws that he said treated his client the same as a first-degree murderer. He said both defendants and the victims in the case all had mental health issues long before they ever met, and that labeling one side heroes and the other evil will ensure similar case continue to appear.<\/p>\n Hutt also brought up sex by Aspen teens.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the court knew what kind of consensual sexual behavior was taking place by (these) teens and (Callahan), you would lose your breath,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Both teenage victims spoke in court Monday before the two defendants were sentenced.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat he did I can never forgive,\u201d one said to Henley. \u201cGoodbye, Henry. I do hope the world isn\u2019t kind to you.\u201d<\/p>\n The second victim told Henley that he and Callahan wounded them deeply.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t know what they took from us \u2014 from not just me but everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The first victim told Callahan that people always told her to stay away from him, but she didn\u2019t immediately realize why. The second victim said people told her Callahan was a bad person, but she didn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n She said that when Henley assaulted her, she asked Callahan, who was present in the room, to help her.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just looked at your phone and ignored me,\u201d she said tearfully.<\/p>\n After the Monday\u2019s court proceeding, the first victim said that hearing Trani cast doubt on her story was \u201creally frustrating.\u201d She said she doesn\u2019t want anything from Henley and Callahan and wouldn\u2019t have chosen to go through such a terrible experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt kind of invalidates everything I\u2019ve gone through,\u201d she said. \u201cNone of us wanted to deal with it, but at a certain point, we have to.\u201d<\/p>\n