Former Pastor Seeks Hearing in Effort to Overturn Sentence

By Sarah Reese
NWI Times
August 5, 2014

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/hammond/former-pastor-seeks-hearing-in-effort-to-overturn-sentence/article_640839a1-d4af-53a7-91ef-0e20fd5ff713.html

HAMMOND | A former pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond on Friday asked a federal judge to at least allow his attorney to present evidence showing his 12-year sentence should be overturned.

An attorney for Jack Schaap, 56, persisted in claims that Schaap's defense attorneys provided ineffective counsel and that U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano should have considered his teenage victim's "sexual aggressiveness" at sentencing, federal court records show.

Florida attorney Charles Murray, representing Schaap, also brushed off prosecutors' claims that Schaap's sentence did not outweigh the gravity of his offense.

Prosecutors said Schaap's conduct was "egregious" and done under the guise of providing religious counseling to the girl. Schaap's attorney wrote such a characterization is an oversimplification of evidence in the case.

Schaap was sentenced in March 2013 to 12 years in prison for transporting a then-17-year-old parishioner he was counseling to Illinois and Michigan for sex.

Murray filed a motion to vacate, correct or set aside Schaap's sentence in June. Schaap laid out a similar argument in a March letter to Lozano, when he requested more time to hire an attorney.

The U.S. attorney's office said in its response to Schaap's motion that Lozano fully advised Schaap at a change of plea hearing that he faced 10 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors and Schaap's defense attorneys had submitted a plea agreement recommending 10 years in prison, prosecutors said.

However, Schaap was advised by Lozano that the judge was not bound by the agreement.

Schaap claims his defense attorneys advised him that he would be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years but was more likely receive three to four years and perhaps as little as 18 months.

Prosecutors said Schaap repeatedly said in court that he understood the terms of his plea agreement.

"Defendant also acknowledged that the parties' recommendation of a 10-year sentence was not binding upon the court," Deputy U.S. Attorney Jill Koster wrote in her response to Schaap's motion. "At no time during the change of plea hearing did defendant express confusion regarding the minimum sentence he faced or suggest (as he conveniently does now) that he believed 10 years to be the maximum."

Schaap's attorney accused Koster of "flippantly" rejecting Schaap's claim and said Schaap "apologizes" to the court.

"The petitioner did not attend law school and does not have an extensive history of involvement with the criminal history system," Murray wrote. "As such, terms such as 'maximum guideline sentence' and 'statutory maximum sentence' mean little, especially when considered in conjunction with counsel's promises to the petitioner regarding sentence length."

Murray said the U.S. attorney's office has not put forth any evidence, such as an affidavit from Schaap's defense team, refuting Schaap's claims that he would face as little as 18 months in prison.

Schaap has filed an affidavit attesting to that claim.

sarah.reese@nwi.com, (219) 933-3351