Judge Hands Down 22-Year Sentence In Rape Case

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – With one violent act, Doug Young went from a hard-working citizen with no criminal record to a criminal defendant with more to enhance his punishment than mitigate it.

That was the ruling Monday of Circuit Court Judge Robert H. Montgomery, who sentenced Young, 48, to 22 years in prison – above the guidelines – for the aggravated rape of his then-wife, Heather Moore.

Neither prosecution nor defense presented evidence Monday, leaving Montgomery to rule on a presentencing report that included one prominent new piece of testimony: Moore’s account of how the attack has impacted her life.

Montgomery ruled that Young’s assault of Moore in December 2007 – the first in a series of criminal charges against Young, which are the subject of two pending trials – was motivated by his desire to pleasure himself, and it inflicted psychological and emotional damage on Moore, and abused the couple’s private trust as spouses.

The only marks in his favor were his more than 30-year employment at BurWil Construction, where he was a superintendent, and a criminal record that included no more than one incident of joyriding and another of egg-throwing as a juvenile. Montgomery also used his work history as a measure of his financial condition, determining that a $22,500 fine was appropriate.

Even that record was marred by Young’s failure to appear for a January hearing while on bond – a pending felony charge – which Montgomery counted as a strike against him in sentencing.

Representing Young was a public defender who last week told Montgomery that his relationship with his client had “deteriorated to the point where it is impossible for me to represent him” in a bid to withdraw from case before sentencing. The judge denied it, but said Monday he will relieve William Kennedy, the defense attorney, from Young’s pending cases after he files a preliminary motion for a new trial on Young’s behalf.

On Monday, Kennedy put a good face on a relationship that he described as “stormy” as far back as May.

“Mr. Young was a good upstanding citizen in Bristol, a hard worker,” Kennedy said.

Moore had urged the court to impose the maximum sentence for Young and had no comment after Monday’s hearing. But in a statement she gave to a probation officer last month, she said the attack “overshadows every conscious decision I make.”

Foremost, Moore said in the statement, is the “violation of every aspect of trust you can have in a relationship and I am uncertain the influence this will have with any future relationship I may have.

“One minute Doug was telling me how much he loved me and the next, I am lying on the floor, beaten and bleeding, fighting to survive,” she said in the statement.

She has nightmares that Young has escaped from prison and come for her. She leaves the lights on; won’t walk her dog around the block if it’s dark. “And God help the person who grabs me on the shoulder when they are behind me!” she said in the statement.

Then there is the humiliation of describing the sexual assault multiple times in public; of having the shards of her marriage entered into the public record. The publicity, she said, “makes even the most simple of tasks, like going to the store for a gallon of milk, a struggle for me.” The physical injuries, like her blackened eye and a wound
beneath her tongue that impaired her eating ability for a month, come far down in the statement.

The December incident led Moore and Young to the brink of finalizing a divorce five years in the offing – and to a second, more serious set of charges against Young, who authorities claim abducted his wife and led them on a week-long manhunt through three states. Sullivan County prosecutors have charged him with several more counts of aggravated rape, as well as aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and especially aggravated kidnapping.

No trial date has been set for those charges, and the time line for doing so was pushed well back Monday with Montgomery’s decision to appoint a new attorney for Young.
“January is out,” said Assistant District Attorney General Barry Staubus, of a court date previously discussed.

Young, who has maintained that the December incident with Moore was a consensual sexual encounter, remains preoccupied with his August jury trial.

“There’s a lot that happened and a lot that didn’t come out” at trial, Young told Montgomery on Monday – a claim he has made repeatedly in and out of court. A new attorney will be appointed by Montgomery on Friday.

dgilbert@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2558