Accused killer wins appeal on violation of sex registry law

7-12-2012 Tennessee:

Accused murderer Jeffrey Stock has won a minor — and potentially insignificant — legal victory for failing to register as a sex offender prior to the rape and murder of his alleged victim, 19-year-old Megan Maxwell.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Wednesday the six-year sentence U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer imposed for Stock’s failing to register in Cocke County as a sex offender was excessive and remanded the case for resentencing.

The six-year sentence was roughly double the advisory guideline sentencing range of 33 to 41 months in federal prison.

The appellate court’s ruling essentially concluded that Greer erred when he accepted the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services report that Stock’s criminal history warranted the highest tier of offender status.

Stock pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery in Indiana in 2008.

During the sex-offender trial in federal court in Greeneville, an Indiana detective testified the sexual batteries were actually rapes, and a Newport detective testified that Stock was the last person seen with Maxwell.

Greer said he didn’t consider those factors in imposing sentence, however, the court of appeals suggested the prosecution crossed the evidentiary line by putting the testimony before jurors, according to the decision.

“The government denied … that it was ‘trying to prove that (the Indiana offense) was actually a rape instead of a sexual battery,’ apologizing ‘if that’s how it appears,’” a footnote in the 14-page decision states.

“But that’s exactly how it appears, particularly in light of the government’s attempt to connect Stock to an unsolved missing-person case,” the notation further states.

Citing established precedent, the court concluded a six-year sentence was “substantially unreasonable when the district court failed to identify compelling justification for the guidelines variance or to account for the disparity from other sentences for similar offenses.”

The appellate court recognized Greer’s frustration with Stock avoiding meaningful punishment for past crimes, but noted the six-year sentence was “by far the longest sentence imposed during all of 2008, 2009 and 2010 — possibly ever” for a defendant with a criminal history similar to Stock’s.

Stock was indicted on the failure-to-register offense in June 2009. Maxwell disappeared in April of the same year after visiting her father in Newport.

Her remains were not located until April 2010 between the Parrottsville and Del Rio communities of southeastern Cocke County.

The defendant was indicted for first-degree felony murder, rape and theft for allegedly stealing Maxwell’s car. The indictment alleges Maxwell was killed “during the perpetration of rape and theft.”

Stock’s father, 65-year-old Terry Stock, was indicted for being an after-the-fact accessory to first-degree murder for allegedly providing his son with transportation following the homicide and removing “evidence of guilt.” ..Source.. by Robert Moore, Tribune Staff Writer