Judge hears sentencing arguments in Walmart sexual assault case

MEDIA COURT – Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Cappelli heard arguments on a Commonwealth motion to re-sentence a Darby Township man currently serving a one- to two-year prison sentence for sexually abusing his co-worker in 2021.

Anthony D. Waters Jr., 27, was convicted in May of involuntary sexual abuse by coercion, sexual assault and indecent contact without the consent of another person. He was acquitted of charges of rape and indecent contact by coercion.

Assistant District Attorney Beth Ramos asked for a minimum sentence of 5.5 years in prison at the Aug. 8 sentencing, noting that the standard guideline sentence for IDSI is 48 to 66 months, plus or minus 12 months in the aggravated and mitigated ranges.

Defense attorney Paige Benedetto had asked for a county sentence of 11.5 to 23 months. She argued that this case involved consensual acts and that the victim and Waters had previously engaged in some consensual activities together.

The victim had testified in court that she was OK with Waters kissing her, but when it came to sex, she drew a line. She said Waters, her co-worker at the time, was aware of that line, but he still bent her over and had sex with her while they were taking a break in the early morning of June 22, 2021.

Cappelli went a little beyond Benedetto's recommendation and imposed a state sentence, ordering Waters to register as a sex offender for life and serve five years of sex offender probation.

The judge said at the time that although the victim had made it “pretty clear” that she did not want to cross any boundaries during sex, “I'm not sure Anthony understood that boundary.”

“Unjustified deviation”

Ramos argued that the drastic downward departure from the guidelines represented a “significant, unfounded and unjustified departure” from just one-third of the reduced sentence range. However, he agreed with the judge that it was still a lawful sentence.

She said the IDSI scores 12 out of 14 on the Offense Gravity Score scale used to calculate the guidelines, but 1-2 years is more comparable to the sentence someone would receive for selling a single Adderall pill.

Cappelli disagreed with this comparison, noting that the sentence here entails a lifetime registration and a long probation period designed to protect the public.

“This is a serious case. I never said it wasn't,” he said. “In fact, I think it's a very serious case. I think a state sentence of a long term probation and lifetime registration is a serious sentence.”

Ramos argued that lifetime registration is already part of every IDSI case and should therefore be considered a given along with the benchmark range.

Ramos also questioned some of the mitigating factors cited in the record, such as that Waters was a “good worker” because the attack was directed against a co-worker during their shared shift.

She also said that his educational ambitions to become an architect were not a mitigating factor in her situation, nor were her own ambitions at a young age to become a basketball star. Nor was the fact that he is a father a mitigating factor, as that description probably applies to most men in America.

The fact that he has strong support from his family actually speaks against a reduced sentence, said Ramos. Because he apparently comes from a good family, but still committed these crimes. And the fact that he had a relationship with the victim is not unusual in cases of sexual assault.

Benedetto summarised her argument in response, saying that the judge did not have to impose a sentence that would be considered ‘appropriate’ under the guidelines, but simply had to record the mitigating circumstances taken into account in order to ensure that they were not mere empty phrases, as Cappelli had done.

Motion to dismiss

Cappelli also heard arguments on Bendetto's motion to dismiss all three charges. She argued that there was no testimony about the use of “force” that would justify the IDSI charge, only that Waters turned the victim over, bent her over and placed his hands on her waist.

The charges of sexual assault and indecent touching without consent also require that the defendant acted “grossly unreasonable” or reckless in violating consent, which she says is not confirmed by witness statements.

Ramos said the fact that Waters physically positioned the victim was enough to use force, and that he was well aware of her limits but exceeded them, as he later even admitted in text messages.

Cappelli said he would request a transcript of the hearing and gave Benedetto two weeks from receipt of the transcript to prepare a brief. Ramos will have an additional 10 days after receipt of the brief to file a response.