Published: October 16, 2009 09:52 am      

Sentencing set for former band teacher

CLINTON — Sentencing is set for Monday in the case of a Clinton man found guilty earlier this year of using the Internet to attempt to entice a minor to perform illicit sexual acts.

A six-man, six-woman jury found James W. Young guilty of the charge in U.S. District Court after a three-day trial in April. His sentencing date has been moved a couple of times; he is now set to be sentenced at 3 p.m. Monday in Davenport.

He was accused of the charge Nov. 13, nine days after he began instant messaging and e-mailing someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl named Emily from Grand Mound, who actually was an undercover DeWitt police officer serving on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The two had met in a Yahoo chat room in which people from Iowa are looking for romance. Their communication soon took on a sexual tone and Young set up reservations for the two to meet at a DeWitt motel on Nov. 13. Young was arrested after arriving at the hotel, trying to pay for the room with a maxxed out credit card, driving around town and then pulling into a nearby park while admittedly looking for Emily.

To find him guilty, the jury had to unanimously agree on three elements, that Young had used the Internet to chat from Nov. 4 to 13, that he had used it to try to entice a minor to commit a sex act and that he had taken a substantial step to persuade or entice a minor into committing a sexual act.

Young built his defense on theories of entrapment and abandonment. His attorney, Al Willett of Cedar Rapids, tried to prove Young actually was the victim of enticement, saying the undercover officer was leading Young to commit a crime. He said the officer never told Young “no” as he mentioned certain specific sex acts and led him to believe that she was up for anything. Young, who said he was under pressure because of marital problems and the stresses of being a Clinton High School band director, said the chats left him confused, but admitted he was flattered and tempted. He said he mentioned sex acts to her because he was trying to set boundaries and wanted to know what Emily was thinking.

Willett also tried to prove that Young didn’t follow through with the crime, that he had abandoned his attempt when he canceled the room reservations after arriving in DeWitt and trying to pay for the room with a maxxed out credit card.

But the defense was dealt a blow when Judge John Jarvey ruled he was not going to allow the entrapment and abandonment theories to be presented to the jury when receiving jury instructions prior to deliberating..

He said entrapment can only be presented to the jury through its instructions if it was determined the defendant does not have a predisposition to commit such a crime. Jarvey said a predisposition exists because Young, even though he claimed that he had not met with a minor before, did chat with other people he thought to be minors online in the months leading up to his discussions with Emily.

Jarvey also said the explicit sexual nature of Young’s chats with adults, something Young had been having for years, shows he is predisposed to commit such a crime.

On the other point, Jarvey said abandonment can happen during the attempt of a crime, but abandonment is not a viable defense once a substantial step has been taken to persuade a minor to commit a sex act. He said there are several steps that could be considered substantial, among them chats, arranging for a meeting, driving to the meeting or waiting at the place where the meeting was to happen. He said many of those steps existed in this case: The chats happened, Young mentioned the hotel room, made the room reservation, drove to DeWitt, brought baby wash for a bubble bath and a condom, tried to pay for the room and then drove around town looking for Emily after he canceled the reservation.

Willett, however, argued that the cancellation of the hotel room showed Young had had a change of heart and had abandoned the crime. But prosecutor Joel Barrows throughout the trial argued Young canceled the room only after his credit card was denied and had sought to get money from an ATM machine. Barrows said Young called the motel clerk and canceled the room after he couldn’t get the money to cover the $53.33 cost.

Young also drove around town looking for Emily. While Young testified it was because he wanted to find her and give her a ride home to Grand Mound to keep her safe, Barrows said Young actually wanted to get to the girl so that she wouldn't end up telling her dad what happened when he found out she was stranded at the motel after walking there from school. He also said Young may have hoped to have an encounter with Emily in the car in the park, something he had mentioned in an earlier chat.

As it turned out, Young was arrested after driving around town and into Westbrook Park, where the two had talked about meeting.