AUBURN — A Massachusetts man sentenced earlier this month to 30 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in Auburn is appealing his conviction and sentence.
David. P. Hunt Jr. Androscoggin County Jail photo
David P. Hunt Jr., 40, of Taunton, Massachusetts, was convicted at a February trial of four charges, including two for gross sexual assault and two for unlawful sexual contact.
It took a jury less than an hour to deliberate before reaching its verdict after a three-day trial.
Hunt was sentenced to 30 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release.
An Androscoggin County grand jury had indicted Hunt on the charges in 2018.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court automatically hears conviction appeals, but may reject an appeal of a sentence, according to Hunt’s attorney, Verne Paradie.
In an application to the state’s high court explaining why it should hear his sentencing appeal, Paradie wrote that the trial court’s sentence was “significantly higher than is warranted for this crime.”
He said the trial court judge had “failed to consider significant mitigating factors and the rehabilitation potential” of Hunt.
Paradie wrote that Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Harold Stewart II also had found that “there had been significant psychological trauma impacting the development of the victim and significant mental health effects on the victim, including post-traumatic stress disorder, without any expert testimony regarding the same.”
Stewart said during Hunt’s sentencing it was difficult to reconcile the abusive predator portrayed at trial and by the victim with the kind-hearted, honest, dependable and generous man who served his country honorably as described by Hunt’s family and friends.
The victim, who was 9 years old when she was sexually assaulted by Hunt in Auburn, spoke as an adult at his sentencing.
She said Hunt’s abuse of her started with him inflicting painful military-style punishment that soon escalated to sexual assault.
The victim said Hunt threatened to hurt her mother, whom he had beaten in front of her, if she told anyone about the abuse. He also had shown the girl a gun and let her hold it “and put that fear in my eyes.”
For those reasons, she hadn’t told anyone, for years, she said.
Eventually, she told a friend, who told an adult, who told police, who opened a criminal investigation in 2012.
During the time leading up to his conviction, the victim said her mental health has suffered, including anxiety and depression.
“I was always in fear of him,” she told the judge. “Even though I didn’t physically see him, he had control over me. David having my name tattooed on his body for the rest of his life makes me sick. Because of what David did to me, I have a hard time trusting men.”
Now that Hunt is behind bars, the victim said, “I can live my life without fear.”
His abuse has “had a huge impact on my life,” she said, “and I will struggle living with this for the rest of my life.”
“I fully appreciate the tragedy and the impact that, again, all sides have experienced by this,” Justice Stewart said as he imposed his sentence on Hunt.
While Stewart said he was mindful of the loss Hunt’s sentence will mean to his family, he said that loss is outweighed by the impact Hunt’s criminal conduct inflicted on his victim.
“Regrettably, there is nothing in our criminal justice system that will ever make a victim whole,” Stewart said.
The case had been investigated by the Auburn Police Department and a law enforcement agency in Massachusetts in a municipality where additional sexual assaults occurred.
Charges against Hunt for similar criminal conduct involving the same victim are pending in Massachusetts.
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