WILLIAM TERRY MACDONALD Even though his attorney argued for a new trial and attempted to have at least some of the charges against William Terry MacDonald of Hornitos dropped, he will die in state prison. MacDonald was sentenced to 112 years to life during a hearing in Mariposa County Superior Court on July 23.

The nearly two-hour long hearing began with the defendant, who was convicted by a Mariposa County jury of 15 felony counts of child molestation in April after a lengthy trial, shuffling into the courtroom shackled and wearing jail stripes.

His attorney, Jeffrey Tennenbaum, first asked that his client get

new trial on three of the 15 counts. He told Judge Carlos Baker that the evidence presented at trial did not constitute “substantial sexual conduct” as to one of the victims. “The jury bootstrapped onto (the first victim’s) testimony,” he told the court. He said the fact that the young victim couldn’t recall the date of the molestation was “outrageous.”

Tennebaum asked for the verdict to be modified if his motion was denied. The change could have exposed MacDonald to less prison time. “Whatever happened,” Tennebaum said, “was misdemeanor conduct.” He called the touching of the young girl “accidental.”

Deputy District Attorney Kim Fletcher argued against Tennebaum’s requests. “We can’t make sense of pedophiles,” she said. “It’s impossible to make sense of such sick thinking.”

Judge Baker rejected both the motion for a new trial and the modification of the verdict.

When time for sentencing came, Tennebaum argued that his client deserved a grant of probation. He said MacDonald was amenable to treatment and planned to appeal the jury’s verdict. He said MacDonald was a veteran and a 20-year employee of the State of California. He said it would be in the best interest of the victims if MacDonald could be treated and returned to society.

“Life has moved on,” Tennebaum said. “They’ve had a lot of good times since that happened. This is a man who served, had a family, worked fighting fires and saving people’s lives. He was expecting to enjoy retirement.”

Tennebaum concluded. “The emotional part was 15 to 20 years ago. A lot of this is quite frankly water under the bridge.”

Fletcher did not see it that way. “Water under the bridge?” she asked. “This is an outrageous monster. There are victims spanning generations. I’d be embarrassed to make a statement like that.”

Fletcher went on to detail the requirements of the law. She also read part of a letter submitted by one of the victims. “I feel very confused about what kind of sentencing he should receive,” the victim wrote to the judge. “Please think of what he did to the victims and what we have to live with for the rest of our lives because of his foul decisions.”

The deputy district attorney said the doctor who conducted the psychiatric evaluation on MacDonald agreed that he was a danger to the public. “I am compelled, now more than ever,” the psychiatrist said of a recommended prison term. She noted the “psychopathic coldness of this individual” and said he spent the four and a half hours of the interview diminishing, belittling and degrading his victims.

“We have not seen an ounce of remorse,” Fletcher said of MacDonald, noting that he consistently blamed his victims for making false accusations. “A molester who doesn’t have a conscience is the most dangerous of all molesters,” she said. “We have proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he did repeat. He is a risk.”

Baker sided with Fletcher’s argument, and sent MacDonald to state prison for the requested 112 years to life for the crimes.

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