Louvier Files Appeal In Child Molesting Conviction
Louvier Files Appeal In Child Molesting Conviction
Posted
Amanda Bridgman-
Louvier Files Appeal In Child Molesting ConvictionA convicted child molester from Silver Lake has filed an appeal asking for his 24-year prison sentence to be reduced.
Daniel S. Louvier, 37, formerly of 208 S. High St., Silver Lake, was sentenced Nov. 9 by the late Kosciusko Superior Court I Judge David Cates to 24 years in prison for two Level 4 felony child molesting convictions.
In October, it took a jury less than an hour to convict Louvier after hearing testimony from the two female victims who said Louvier touched them several times – over a period of time – down their pants and underneath their underwear.
At the trial, Louvier’s public defender, Travis Neff, said his client has always denied the allegations and attempted to form a defense that somehow the children were in cahoots and fabricated the entire story to take Louvier down.
The jury didn’t believe it and neither did the judge when he handed down the maximum sentence punishable to Louvier in November.
On March 19, Neff filed an appeal with the Indiana Court of Appeals arguing that Cates abused the trial court’s discretion when sentencing Louvier to the maximum of 24 years and ignoring case law that requires maximum sentences to be reserved for “the worst of the worst.”
Neff’s apparent argument is that Louvier never penetrated the victims and that the children liked being around Louvier.
Neff further reminded the Appeals Court that his client has always denied the charges and that he merely took it to trial not to further harm the family by putting them through a trial but because it was his right to take it to trial and because Louvier was “standing up for what is right.”
Louvier complained at his trial that he had lost his wife and his home because of the accusations. Neff reiterated that in the appeal.
At the sentencing, Cates said he could find no mitigating factor, and it was shown Louvier had violated probation three of four different times in the past when he was given the opportunity. Cates also said Louvier had caused significant harm to the two children and committed multiple acts against each.
Louvier is serving his sentence at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City with an earliest projected release date of May 14, 2039.
Upon his release, he will have to register as a sexually violent predator and child molester for life.
