Kortman sentenced 6 to 30 years for crimes
A 16-year-old Rogers City teenager, convicted of four counts of criminal sexual conduct, was sentenced last week to 6 to 30 years in the state prison system. Richard Kortman, who was arrested in June 2002 when he was 15, was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge John F. Kowalski on two counts of criminal sexual conduct (CSC) in the first degree and two counts of CSC in the second degree. Kortman was charged with seven counts of CSC when the investigation was completed.
On the CSC first degree charges, he was sentenced to 72 to 360 months with credit for 201 days served. On the CSC second degree counts, he was sentenced to 72 to 180 months. The sentences are to run concurrently. Kortman was transported to Jackson Prison, but was to later be transferred to the Michigan Youth Correctional (MYC) Facility north of Baldwin.
SENTENCING FOR Kortman took place January 7 with prosecutor Don McLennan having to respond to members of the community in the following days.
?How come you were so hard on that kid?? McLennan said he was asked by a couple of businessmen. ?Well, I don?t think we were hard on the kid. He was penetrating little girls for a year or so. ?You?re kidding me, I just thought he was messing around with them,? McLennan said businessman told him. McLennan said there?s a difference.
?You have here a total of five victims. Three of those victims were charged as CSC 1, which is sexual penetration; two of them were sexual contact. In every instance we had evidence of multiple experiences over a prolonged period of time,? said McLennan.
At sentencing, the mother of two of the victims, who were six and seven years-old while the assaults were occurring, made an emotional impact statement, which the prosecutor believes ?helped to drive home the very real pain that not only afflicts the victims but the parents and the extended families of the victims.?
?I AM NOT sure I can put into words what you have done to my girls, my family and myself,? she read. ?Parenting by no means is easy, but you made it much harder than it should be.? The mother said her youngest daughter would come home on occasion from daycare crabby and moody. ?Now I know why,? she said. ?What you did not only affected our families, it also affected the community,? the mother told Kortman, reading from the seven-page impact statement. ?You have put fear in every parent who has to send their kids to daycare. ?You will be sentenced, and you will serve your time, then walk the streets, and live your life. You put yourself in that position,? she continued. ?My daughters will be in their own prison for the rest of their lives.?
?Isn?t it amazing how one decision, one action you made, how it has affected so many people, and how it changed your life?? the mother asked Kortman.
?Maybe what you should have done was thought of the ramifications of how it would hurt your family, how it hurt these little girls and their families. If you couldn?t do that…maybe you should have at least thought of yourself.?
McLennan said the impact statement made it easier for Judge Kowalski to recognize the appropriateness of a prison sentence for someone who otherwise would seem to be quite young.
MCLENNAN SAID Kortman was evaluated by professionals to determine if there was a psychological condition that attributed to these behaviors.
?What the professionals concluded, independently of one another?s assessments, is that his character demonstrated that he was an opportunist who lacked empathy for his victims,? said McLennan. ?That concerned me as a prosecu
?His emotional complex is not like yours and mine with this disease and he needs counseling, he needs treatment. By saying he lacks empathy doesn?t mean he that he just doesn?t give a damn about the people that he hurt, because that?s not true. I?ve talked to him for hours about that, he does,? added defense attorney David Funk.
McLennan said because of the people who assisted in the case police officer Jason Kelley of the Rogers Police Department at the time, forensic interviewer Debbie Houck from the Michigan Department of Licensing, the parents and the victims, coupled with the facilities for interviewing young victims at the Presque Isle District library — the case came in ?very well investigated and was as solid a case that a prosecutor could hope to have.?
