Jacee Dugard’s captors plead guilty

Guilty pleas will spare Dugard, now 30, and her daughters from having to testify at a trial A convicted sex offender and his wife have pleaded guilty in California to kidnapping and raping Jaycee Dugard when she was 11 and holding her captive for nearly 20 years. Phillip Garrido, who had two children with Dugard, faces a maximum sentence of 431 years in prison while his wife, Nancy, could be jailed for 36 years. The guilty pleas are part of a deal with prosecutors that will spare Dugard, now 30, and her daughters from having to testify at a trial. “I’m relieved Phillip and Nancy Garrido have finally acknowledged their guilt and confessed to their crimes against me and my family,” she said in a statement. Dugard and her children, now 13 and 16, were kept in a hidden compound of backyard tents and sheds for 18 years, never attending school or receiving medical attention. Garrido, 60, pleaded guilty to 14 kidnapping and sexual assault charges. Nancy Garrido, 55, who originally faced the same charges as her husband, pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and one count of rape. She is technically eligible for parole, but county District Attorney Vern Pierson said it was “extraordinarily unlikely” she would ever be released from prison. Pierson said the plea deal was only possible because Dugard was willing to testify about her experiences in captivity. He said he spoke with her on Wednesday, and she remained willing to take the witness stand but was reluctant to put her children through the ordeal. “Frankly, I’m relieved that this means that that will not happen,” Pierson said. “Should her children be called and drug [sic] into all of this was something that I don’t think any mother in her right mind would want to see.” Both defendants waived their right to appeal and are due to be sentenced on 2 June. Dugard was snatched from her family’s South Lake Tahoe street in June 1991 while walking to a school bus stop. Her disappearance prompted a massive search, nationwide publicity and one of the largest police investigations in the region. The case attracted international attention after Dugard surfaced in August 2009. She and her children were discovered in August 2009 when Phillip Garrido took them to a meeting with his parole officer. Dugard has been reunited with her mother and has remained in California with her and her daughters. She requested privacy and has not attended any of the court hearings. She is writing her memoirs, which are expected to be published in September. Dugard’s case revealed problems with California’s sex offender monitoring system, which has since been reformed. She received a $20m (£12m) settlement under which the state acknowledged parole agents responsible for monitoring Garrido had missed numerous clues and chances to find her. United States David Batty guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 28, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.