Laforest accepts 25-year prison offer in sodomy, incest, sex abuse case

A Corbin man, who is accused of sodomizing, sexually abusing and having sexual intercourse with a female relative under the age of 12, will be spending at least the next two decades behind bars.

James Laforest entered an Alford plea Tuesday accepting a 25-year prison sentence in sodomy, incest, sex abuse case.

James Laforest, 34, had been scheduled to stand trial Wednesday but instead entered an Alford plea Tuesday morning to charges of first-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse and incest in exchange for prosecutors recommending a 25-year prison sentence.

Laforest is classified as a violent offender, which means he will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

“We are looking at at least two decades until they (the Kentucky Parole Board) even start to begin to wonder what they are going to do with this monster,” noted Commonwealth’s Attorney Ronnie Bowling.

An Alford plea means that Laforest still maintains his innocence, but acknowledges that prosecutors probably have enough evidence to convict him at trial.

In addition to the 25-year prison sentence, Laforest will also be required to register as a convicted sex offender for life, must undergo an HIV test, will have an order entered barring him from contacting the victim for life, and he will have to complete a sex offender treatment program.

Bowling noted that Laforest has a constitutional right to enter an Alford plea.

“I am not going to get hung up on whether he admits he did it or not because everybody in the room – including himself – knows he did. I don’t have to hear him say I am guilty. A sane person doesn’t plead guilty to 25 years unless they did something. He doesn’t have to convince me of his guilt. I know he did it,” Bowling said. “I think the important part is he is in prison for 25 years.”

Laforest’s attorney, public advocate Caleb Pittman, told Judge Paul Winchester during the hearing that had the case gone to trial, the odds would have been stacked against his client.

Bowling added that Alford pleas can be kind of tricky for defendants in rape and sexual abuse type cases because in order to complete the sex offender treatment program, the defendant has to admit to what they did.

“If you never admit your guilt or come to terms with your guilt, the DOC (Department of Corrections) is entitled to keep you there for life. If he wants to maintain his innocence 25 years from now, then I hope he does because that means he never gets out,” Bowling noted.

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors also agreed to dismissed a first-degree rape charge, and a second first-degree sodomy charge against Laforest.

“The physical evidence on those was a little lacking. The proof on the other counts was so overwhelming. A 25-year sentence is a 25-year sentence,” Bowling noted. “The charges we have convictions on are airtight.”

Prosecutors called only one witness during Tuesday’s hearing, which was Alicia Floyd with the Cumberland Valley Children’s Advocacy Center, who has been a therapist for the victim for over two years.

Floyd testified that the court process has been an “emotional rollercoaster” for the victim between continuances in the case and preparation for the victim testifying at trial.

“She will be overjoyed with the outcome” of the case, Floyd noted.

Laforest has been incarcerated in the Whitley County Detention Center since his arrest on April 13, 2017.

According to his indictment, all of the crimes allegedly took place on April 9, 2017.

All of the allegations in the indictment involved a single victim.

Winchester scheduled a Dec. 16 formal sentencing hearing in the case.

Bowling noted that during the sentencing hearing, the victim may want to read a victim impact statement in court.

“A major sex crime conviction like this one hasn’t happened in this county for nearly 20 years; today is a step in the right direction on changing that. As long as I’m privileged to serve as your prosecutor, child sex predators will be prosecuted harder than anyone on the docket,” Bowling added in a Facebook post.