ST. GEORGE — A defendant was sentenced to serve time in prison on a felony sexual abuse charge during a hearing held earlier this month for the attack of a woman in Cedar City in 2020.
The defendant, Adam Joseph Green, 34, appeared in 5th District Court in Cedar City for sentencing on second-degree forcible sexual abuse. Green originally was charged with first-degree rape and three third-degree felony charges, including burglary, aggravated assault and failure to register as a sex offender.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, the rape charge was amended to a second-degree felony sexual abuse charge, and the sex offender registry charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. A protective order violation was added, and the remaining charges were dismissed.
During the hearing, District Judge Matthew L. Bell sentenced the defendant to serve 1-15 years in Utah State Prison on the second-degree felony. He also ordered Green to serve 364 days in jail for each of the two misdemeanor charges – sentences that would also be served in prison.
Additionally, the judge ordered the sentences to run consecutively.
The case was filed in connection with an incident reported Oct. 18, 2020, when the suspect admittedly broke into a camper trailer on the outskirts of Cedar City and attempted to sexually assault a woman.
While meeting with the reporting party, deputies learned that a man, identified as Green, entered her trailer where he “attacked her,” and when she tried to escape, the suspect refused to let her go free and kept her confined on the bed using a “scissor lock type hold,” the deputy noted in the report.
Deputies also learned the suspect was prohibited from entering the property where the assault took place and noted Green was a registered sex offender who had been arrested multiple times for failing to register his address on the sex offender registry – including one case that was still pending at the time of his arrest.
During the sentencing hearing, the suspect’s father addressed the court by saying the incident never would have occurred if his son’s mental state had been better and thanked the court for helping his son’s mental health condition.
He went on to say that some of the allegations against his son were untrue and asked the court for leniency on his behalf. He then requested the sentences run concurrently.
“It’s been a long road for my son in our family,” he said, adding that while he knew his son’s actions should not go unpunished, his son needed help more than incarceration.
The defendant, represented by defense attorney Matt Munson, also spoke during the hearing and opened by saying he took full responsibility and apologized to the victim and to the court for his actions. He said he has struggled with mental illness his entire life.
“I would give anything, absolutely anything in the world to get my mental health back,” he said.
He also said he was “nowhere near in his right mind on that night,” was off his medication and was feeling manic. He then realized that his schizophrenia began consuming his thoughts.
He then asked the court to have mercy on him by giving him the chance to show he has obtained the skills to properly deal with his mental illness so he is no longer a burden on society.
Iron County Prosecutor Shane Klenk also spoke and asked that Green serve a prison term on each of his three cases, in accordance with the recommendations submitted by Adult Probation and Parole.
He said Green has an “intensive risk” of reoffending, as his criminal history clearly shows. During the incident in October 2020, the defendant hid in the trailer to wait for the victim to arrive and then committed the act using “force and violence,” the prosecutor said.
He also said Green posed a serious risk to the community, adding “and frankly, were it not for evidentiary concerns,” then the offer to reduce the charge to a second-degree felony would never have happened.
Klenk closed by saying the state “firmly believes that the continued incarceration of Mr. Green is the only way to ensure the safety of the community.” He then asked that Green serve as much time as the law allows.
The judge also commented before rendering the sentence by saying the defendant has a lengthy criminal history that includes prison time, “and now he finds himself back in front of the court.”
Bell further described the facts of the case as “very concerning,” and underscored the need to protect the public by adopting the recommendations as set forth by Adult Probation and Parole.
He also said the sentence was not only justified but necessary. And while he took into account the defendant’s extensive mental health concerns, of which Green has made significant progress, Green also has an extensive criminal history.
As such, the judge ordered that Green serve the three prison terms that would begin “forthwith,” Bell said.
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