Sentencing Disparity

[publicenemynumerouno]

I am shocked.



PLATTE CITY, MO - A Platte County mother was sentenced to 58 years in prison on Tuesday for her role in the sexual exploitation of her teenage daughter, but the prosecutor in the case says that the state's recommended sentence of probation in the case was grossly inappropriate.

Bobbi Jo Geveshausen, 43, pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of second degree statutory sodomy. Geveshausen and her boyfriend, Edward Shockey, 35, were convicted of engaging in sex acts with Geveshausen's 16-year-old daughter.

Platte County prosecutor Eric Zahnd says that Shockey, who was previously sentenced to 25 years for his role in the crimes, videotaped the sex acts. Zahnd says that the victim in the case is visibly pregnant in many of the videos.

But as shocking as these crimes sound, Zahnd says he was even more stunned to learn that the state's recommended sentence for Geveshausen was only probation.

"I can think of no one other than apparently the Sentencing Advisory Commission who'd believe probation is the appropriate sentence for a mother who engages in these really deplorable acts with her own daughter," said Zahnd. "Fortunately, the court sentenced this woman to 58 years in prison."

Zahnd says that the recommended sentences are worthless and says that the commission should be scrapped. But Judge Mike Wolff, chair of the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission, says it doesn't make recommendations in individual cases. Instead, he says that the commission studies what has happened elsewhere for the same charge, and that unlike federal courts, the recommended sentences are non-binding for judges.

Wolff says that based on the facts of the case, lawyers can argue for a higher or lower sentence. Wolff says that appears to be what happened to Geveshausen when she received 58 years.

But Zahnd, who says that he is thankful that the judge in this case chose to ignore the recommendations, believes the recommendations may have a different purpose.

"I think frankly the goal oftentimes is to just get offenders out of the system as quickly as they can," said Zahnd. "That's a goal that I simply can't share when it comes to violent and sex offenders."