Judge hears sentencing arguments in Walmart sexual abuse case

MEDIA COURTHOUSE — Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Cappelli has heard arguments on a motion by the Commonwealth to re-sentence a Darby Township man currently serving a 1-2 year prison sentence for sexually assaulting his co-worker in 2021.

Anthony D. Waters Jr., 27, was convicted in May on charges of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse by forcible coercion, sexual assault and indecent assault without consent. He was acquitted of charges of rape and indecent assault by forcible coercion.

Assistant District Attorney Beth Ramos asked for a minimum of 5½ years in prison at the Aug. 8 sentencing, noting that the standard guideline for IDSI is 48 to 66 months, plus or minus 12 months in the enhanced and mitigated sentences.

Defense attorney Paige Benedetto had sought a sentence of 11½ to 23 months. She argued that this was a case of consent and that the victim and Waters had previously performed consensual acts.

The victim testified during the trial that she was okay with Waters kissing her, but she drew the line at sex. She said Waters, her coworker at the time, was aware of that boundary but still bent over her and had sex with her while they were on a break in the early morning of June 22, 2021.

Cappelli went slightly further than Benedetto’s recommendation, imposing a sentence of up to life in prison for sex offenders on Waters, and ordering him to serve five years of sex offender probation.

The judge said at the time that while the victim had made it “very clear” that sex was a boundary she did not want to cross, “I’m not sure Anthony understood that boundary.”

‘Unjustified deviation’

Ramos argued that the drastic deviation from the guidelines was a “significant, unfounded, unjustified departure” from just one-third of the moderate range, but agreed with the judge that it was still a legal penalty.

She said IDSI scores a 12 out of 14 on the “offense gravity score” measure used in calculating guidelines, but 1-2 years is more comparable to what someone would get for selling a single Adderall pill.

Cappelli disagreed with that analogy, noting that the penalty in this case involves lifetime registration and a lengthy probationary period, intended to protect the public.

“This is a serious matter. I never said it wasn’t,” he said. “In fact, I think it’s a very serious matter. I think a state sentence with a long probation period and lifetime registration is a serious sentence.”

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

Ramos further questioned some of the reasons given for mitigation, such as that Waters was a “good worker” since the attack was against a coworker while they were working their shift together.

She also said that his ambitions to become an architect affect her no less negatively than her own ambitions to become a star basketball player did when she was young. The fact that he is a father also wasn’t a hindrance, as most men in America probably fit that description.

The fact that he has a lot of support from his family is actually at odds with the reduced sentence, Ramos said. He comes from a good family, but he committed the crimes anyway. Moreover, it is not unusual for him to have a connection with the victim in cases of sexual abuse.

Benedetto gave a brief summary of her defense that the judge need not impose a sentence that is considered “appropriate” under the guidelines, but only indicate in the record what mitigating circumstances were taken into account to ensure it was not simply nonsense, 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 of “force” used to support the IDSI charge, only that Waters had turned the victim over, bent her over and placed his hands on her waist.

The charges of sexual abuse and assault without consent also require the defendant to have been “grossly unreasonable” or reckless in ignoring consent, which she said was not supported by testimony.

Ramos said that Waters’ physical positioning of the victim was sufficient to constitute force and that he was well aware of her boundaries but had nevertheless overstepped them, something he later admitted in text messages.

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