LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Legal Newsline) - A former teacher's aide who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of young children at an Arkansas school should be sentenced to only 15 years in prison, his lawyer says, fighting the federal government's intention to seek the maximum sentence of 90 years.
Lawyer Jeff Rosenzweig calls the case "highly unusual" - so much so that client Augustus Shenker should serve the lowest end of what sentencing guidelines call for - in his April 2 memorandum in Arkansas federal court.
Shenker's actions have landed his former employer, Miss Selma's Schools, in trouble on the civil justice side, as it faces three lawsuits. One is on behalf of a boy allegedly sexually assaulted in 2021 while in a pre-kindergarten class for 4-year-olds.
The other two cases are filed on behalf of girls who were in the 4-year-old class in 2020-21.
"(I)n addition to the sexual abuse, Defendant Shenker filmed the abuse and has distributed such images to third parties in violation of state and federal law," the boy's lawsuit says.
"...Shenker's abuse of John Doe occurred during the working hours and was perpetrated against him, and other children, who were under the care, custody and control of Defendants..."
The U.S. government filed its plea agreement in the criminal case against Shenker in December. It said he was pleading guilty to production of child pornography, as he was accused of filming pornographic videos with two young girls on his phone.
He is pleading guilty to three charges, each of which carries a sentence of 15-30 years. His lawyer Rosenzweig wants him to serve three 15-year sentences concurrently, pointing to a stroke he suffered before he was born that gave him cerebal palsy.
"It is uncontested that the MRI of his brain is highly abnormal, to the extent that such an injury suffered in adulthood would be expected to result in the person requiring around-the-clock care," Rosenzweig wrote.
"However, because of the age in which the injury was suffered, the phenomenon of neuroplasticity has allowed other parts of his brain to take over certain functions.
"(W)e simply do not know the if, or the extent to which, the injury to his brain caused the conduct at issue here. Moreover, he was just 20 (almost 21)years old at the time he committed these offenses."
The brief says a de facto life sentence is not appropriate.