TRIAL
Michael Anthony Lester had to wait a week to find out if he would be spending the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty by Jones County jury last week on both counts for which he was charged.
Superior Court Judge Terry Massey allowed the defense to present one final character witness for Lester April 6 before pronouncing the sentence. The judge said he took time to think about the sentence because of the emotions of the trial.
“I didn’t want to make a quick decision,” he said.
Massey sentenced Lester to life with 35 years to serve on each count. The counts are to run concurrently for a total sentence of life with the first 35 years served in confinement. He said the defendant would be eligible for parole in 30 years.
“This case caused a great divide in this family. The witnesses spoke, and the jury spoke. Some will say the sentence is too harsh, and others will say it is too light,” the judge said.
Massey said he presided over two child molestation cases last month.
“I’ve seen what it does to families,” he said, and then directed his remarks to Lester. “This was caused by your behavior.”
Lester’s sentencing hearing took place immediately following the jury’s March 30 verdict of guilty of the charges of rape and aggravated child molestation.
Victim statements from the state were first in the hearing. One of the female family members said she was satisfied with the verdict and was glad to be able to talk about something she had held in for 20 years.
“Today the law was on my side,” she said. “He was married to a beautiful woman, but he tried to defile all the women in the family.”
The father of the victim around whom the case centered spoke about how helpless he felt that he was not able to protect his daughter.
“I hope she is getting closure. He will never touch her again,” he said.
The father said after he found out what Lester had done, his daughter begged him not to kill him.
“She told me she needed her daddy,” he said.
The speaker thanked Assistant District Attorney Cara Fiore and Jones County Sheriff’s Office investigators who worked on the case. He acknowledged that the family is divided, but he spoke to family members who chose not to believe what Lester had done.
“I still love you, but I will love you from a distance,” he said.
Defense Attorney Keith Fitzgerald said the defense witnesses had already spoken and asked the court to consider their testimony.
The hearing then went to the statements of the attorneys.
Fiore said the state recommended two life sentences for Lester.
“I’ve never seen a victim so destroyed at what happened to her. What he did changed every aspect of her life and destroyed a family,” she said. “It was all at the hands of Michael Lester.”
Fitzgerald said there were rows of people in the courtroom that would speak on his client’s behalf.
“They would tell you they trust him.
He is a loved man in the community and spent his life doing what is right,” he said. “Mr. Lester is 59 and looking at a sentence that has a minimum of 25 years non-parole.”
Massey said it was rare to have one side asking for the minimum sentence and the other asking for the maximum.
He said there was no hurry and ordered Lester, who had been released on bond, immediately taken into custody.
“I need to balance his rights with the recommendations,” he said.
The defense witness who spoke prior to the sentence pronouncement told the court that she knew Lester her whole life. She said she knew he was offered a plea deal, but he did not take it because he was innocent.
Fiore later said the plea Lester was offered was 25 years with 20 to serve, which would have had the possibility for parole.
