A West Virginia man who recorded himself and his then-fiancee sexually abusing an infant was handed a life sentence of up to 775 years in prison.
Richard Smith II, 41, was sentenced to a minimum of 205 years in prison Wednesday for filming them abusing his then-fiancee’s, Roseanne Thompson, infant granddaughter in 2015. The couple has since broken up.
“I think that you are one of the most evil persons who I’ve ever encountered,” Kanawha Circuit Judge Tera Salango said in court.
A jury found him guilty of 11 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, four counts of sexual assault, and five counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust.
Kanawha Circuit Judge Tera Salango sentenced Richard Smith II, 41, to a minimum of 205 years in prison after a jury found Smith guilty, — @jj_severino writeshttps://t.co/AQeVTSPQCk
— Gazette-Mail (@wvgazettemail) March 5, 2020
“The things that he did to that child are the things that nightmares are made of,” assistant prosecutor Debra Rusnak said.
Prosecutors showed the jury footage of the couple repeatedly abusing the infant back during the January trial. Smith’s ex-wife, Morgan Smith, originally found the videos in May 2018 when she was cleaning her home.
Thompson is being charged with the same counts as Smith. Her trial will begin in April.
