Stover man guilty of sodomy, child molestation
A 73-year-old Stover man could spend the rest of his life in prison after a Boone County jury’s decision.
William Marchand’s trial ended Wednesday in Columbia with two guilty verdicts on statutory sodomy involving a victim less than 12 years old and first-degree child molestation. The latter of the charges carries a minimum ten-year prison sentence, with the possibility of a life sentence. The child molestation charge involves a punishment of five to 15 years. First Assistant Prosecutor Tracy Gonzalez told ABC 17 News she would consult with the victim in the case to come up with a recommended sentence for Judge Kevin Crane.
Gonzalez called it an “honor” to represent the child victim in the two-day trial.
“The children, the elderly, the infirm – those are vulnerable individuals that people in our community, all communities have individuals that will prey on [them],” Gonzalez said.
The prosecutor admitted that child sex crime cases come with a unique set of difficulties. ABC 17 News reported that Saline County prosecutor Don Stouffer grappled with the sentence he eventually recommended for Levi Dennis’ sexual exploitation case Monday with the damage a trial may do to the child victims of that case. Gonzalez echoed that sentiment, and complimented the victims of child sex cases for coming forward.
“We’re asking children to come into an adult world, which is a courtroom,” Gonzalez said. “It’s foreign to them, it’s a frightening place for them, and not only are we asking them to do that, we’re asking them to talk about things in an open forum amongst strangers that we as adults wouldn’t want to have those conversations with our best friends.”
Missouri does offer assistance in training volunteers to work as advocates, known as Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA.
Editor’s Note: In an earlier version of this story, it was reported that Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, an organization whose local chapter’s mission is to “train and support volunteers to be exceptional voices for every abused and neglected childin Boone and Callaway County Family Courts” only had 17 volunteers. That was actually the number of people that accessed training. In 2015, CASA had 21 programs and 1,489 volunteers. To learn more about Heart of Missouri CASA, you can visit:http://www.heartofmissouricasa.com/
