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Mother, three men get prison time over sex abuse of 13-year-old By Chris Bristol Closing the book on one of the most sordid crimes in recent memory, a Medford woman convicted of letting three men have sex with her 13-year-old daughter during a party was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison. All three men, one of whom pronounced himself innocent three times over, were also sent to prison. Convicted by a jury of first-degree rape, Lynda Darlene Hill maintains that she got so drunk during the party last summer that she blacked out and never realized what the men were doing with the girl � a claim that trial judge Patricia Crain said she found hard to believe and even harder to forgive. "I think you are deliberately trying to not remember," the judge told Hill, "because I think you can�t admit what a terrible mother you are." Despite tight security, the proceeding was marred early on by an almost violent outburst from Hill, 39, who began sobbing hysterically as her daughter�s stepfather described the girl�s emotional recovery and the family�s attempt to lay the incident to rest. The stepfather is raising five of Hill�s seven children, including the victim. The youngest just turned 3. "Don�t touch me!" Hill screamed when her defense attorney, Jeni Feinberg, tried to console her. She then repeatedly screamed, "Let me go! Let me go!" as deputies rushed to restrain her. Not until Crain came down from the bench and gently admonished her did she calm down. Pronouncing them "sexual opportunists," Crain also sentenced two of Hill�s co-defendants � Johnny "JC" Carter, 40, and cousin Lamar Esquire McKenzie, 31 � to seven years in prison for their roles in the encounter. The third man, 33-year-old Anthony Dewayne Smith, received the mandatory minimum sentence of 75 months. Capping a weeklong trial that centered on the testimony of Hill�s daughter, a jury in May found Hill and her co-defendants guilty of 21 out of 25 charges, including varying degrees of rape and sodomy. Crain dismissed a prostitution charge against Hill � the prosecution alleged she let the men use her daughter in exchange for crack cocaine � for lack of evidence. In lurid detail, the girl testified that she had sex four times with McKenzie and three times with Carter during a party last summer at her mother�s apartment in east Medford. She said her mother interrupted her and McKenzie at one point in midact but did not intervene, and claimed that later that night her mother suggested she have sex with Smith and even performed oral sex on him in her presence to show her how. Defense attorneys suggested the girl exaggerated the story, arguing that her testimony was an inconsistent blend of fact and MTV-inspired fantasy. McKenzie even claimed he was not there, although he initially told police he was (the statement was taped) and co-defendants Carter and Smith testified he was, too. Physical evidence was slim, but prosecutors introduced a semen-stained robe containing Carter�s DNA mixed with the girl�s. Another key piece of evidence was a snapshot taken during the party showing Smith sitting in his underwear with the girl, who was wearing the negligee-style robe and little else. Although they had denied the allegations at trial, Smith and Carter apologized to the court Monday and to the victim�s stepfather. The girl was not in attendance. But a defiant McKenzie pronounced himself "greatly disappointed" with the legal system in Jackson County. All three men are black, the girl and her mother are white, and members of his family complained during the trial that the all-white jury could have been a little more skeptical about the extent of the girl�s claims. "Your honor, I stand before you today as an innocent, innocent, innocent man," McKenzie said, reading from a prepared statement. "I ask the court to please show compassion and have mercy on me." Crain was unimpressed, saying she was convinced the verdicts were just and that McKenzie is in denial, perhaps because he is ashamed to admit to his family what happened. "You�ve got to get over attempting to blame everyone else," she said, "because you are the one responsible." Under Measure 11, the men were guaranteed mandatory sentences of 75 months in prison for second-degree (or statutory) rape. Crain declined to tack on more time to Smith�s sentence, pronouncing him the "least culpable" in the case, but added nine months to the sentences of Carter and McKenzie for a total of 84 months, or seven years even. Hill�s conviction for first-degree rape carried an automatic punishment of 100 months, and Crain added on eight months, making the sentence an even nine years. Although Hill was never accused of personally abusing her daughter sexually, Oregon law punishes parents who knowingly fail to stop such abuse more severely. The issue never cropped up at trial, but it was the second time someone was convicted of sexually abusing the girl. According to court records, Hill sued a man for his property in 1995 after he was convicted of molesting the girl and her younger sister. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA