Man is sentenced in sex-abuse case

PROVO — A man found guilty by a jury of sexually abusing elderly nursing home patients was sentenced to prison Tuesday morning while still maintaining his innocence.

Jesus Partida, 35, told 4th District Judge Steven Hansen he was sorry for the pain he caused the victims' families because of what he "said."

In July 2005, Partida went to the American Fork police and confessed to sexually abusing 10 women in the American Fork Heritage Care Center. He later recanted the confession, saying he concocted the story to get out of a failing marriage.

"Mr. Partida continues to maintain his innocence," said defense attorney Joseph Jardine. "We understand doing so is at some peril because at this point he's considered (someone who is) not taking responsibility."

Jardine said he will be filing a motion for a new trial, and if it's denied, he'll begin the appeal process.

Yet prosecutor Dave Sturgill said strong evidence was presented during the trial in October, including videotaped confessions. He asked Hansen for consecutive sentences on 10 of the charges — one for each of the victims.

"The defendant did despicable, unspeakable things to these elderly women in the final stages of their lives, and we have yet to hear from Mr. Partida that he is regretful for that," Sturgill said. "He is only sorry that he came in and confessed."

Hansen said he was especially concerned with the facts of this case.

"When I first heard the facts of this case I was stunned," Hansen said. "It almost bordered on unbelief, it was so outrageous. But there is no question in my mind ... that the jury returned the appropriate verdict."

With that statement, Hansen sentenced Partida to five years to life in prison on each felony count of forcible sodomy. The four charges will run one after the other.

Partida will also serve one to 15 years in prison for 11 counts of forcible sodomy. Six of those counts will run one after the other and after the terms for the first-degree felony sodomy charges. The other five charges will be served concurrently.

Based on sentencing guidelines, Jardine estimated Partida could serve about 14 years in prison.

While not trying to minimize the seriousness of the crimes, Jardine also asked the judge to consider the ages of the victims. All but two of the women who suffered from Alzheimer's disease have since passed away.

"The victims are not people that will suffer the rest of their lives with a horrible act that happened," he said.

Yet Sturgill said it doesn't matter if a victim of a crime lives for 50 years or 50 seconds after a crime was committed, the state will still prosecute the perpetrator.

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E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com

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