Billings man gets twenty years for sexually assaulting preteen girl

Aug. 19—A Billings man was sentenced to 20 years in the Montana State Prison Thursday for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl who may have been as young as nine when the assaults began.

Christopher Douglas Lowery appeared before Yellowstone County District Judge Collete Davies who sentenced him to 20 years for each count, but set the sentence to run at the same time. He will also be forced to register as a level two sex offender.

Lowery pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault in June as part of plea agreement with the county attorney. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped two additional counts of rape, which carried a possible life sentence.

The judge heard directly from Lowery's survivor who described how the abuse had affected her emotionally and mentally.

"It [has] made me a little nervous around men," the girl—now 13—told the judge, "It kind of made me shut myself out from the world, afraid that it might happen again."

The girl spoke confidently to the judge about the effects of the abuse, her opinion of her abuser and the dramatic effects the assaults had on her and her family.

Based on the plea agreement, Prosecutor Jacob Yerger recommended the judge sentence Lowery to 20 years for all three counts to run concurrently with no time suspended.

He cited a psychosexual evaluation that characterized Lowery as a "tier two sex offender" making him a risk for reoffending. Yerger pointed to the crimes calling them "incredibly egregious" and highlighting how the abuse spanned a lengthy period of time.

"There is just a wide variety of disturbing conduct in this case," Yerger told the judge. "And I would point the court to some of the disturbing non-criminal sexual behavior that's discussed in the psychosexual investigation."

Lowery had allegedly been investigated for sexual harassment while employed in the fast food industry, and had "inappropriate communication" with children. "That should be concerning to the court," Yerger pointed out.

Lowery's attorney, David Merchant, argued that his client should be sentenced to 20 years in the Montana State Prison, but that 10 of those years should have been suspended to give the department of corrections an opportunity to place Lowery in the best setting for sex offender treatment and reintroduce him gradually back into society.

"Your honor, the recommendation from the state is a reasonable sentence," Merchant said, "but I would ask the court to suspend 10 of those years."

Merchant pointed out the psychosexual evaluation was conducted before Lowery changed his plea to guilty in early June, and since, he has taken responsibility for his actions. Merchant acknowledged that taking full responsibility might not have influenced the outcome of the evaluator's tier-two sex offender classification, but he did argue that it should influence the court's decision Thursday during sentencing.

"I'm not here asking that he not be incarcerated, and Chris [Lowery] is not asking for that," Merchant said. "He knows that for any healing to occur he has to be punished, and that's healing for both the family and for him."

The judge's sentencing order did not suspend any of the 20 year sentence and placed no restriction on parole, meaning Lowery could be released from prison after five years.

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