By Greg Grisolano
news@joplinglobe.com
PINEVILLE, Mo. —
A Neosho man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, plus 227 years, for the brutal rape and assault of a woman.
Kevin A. Todd, 49, stood emotionless as Associate Judge John LePage imposed the sentence during a hearing in McDonald County Circuit Court.
“This is simply the most vicious crime I’ve seen committed on an adult in my 12 years on the bench and my 15 years in private practice, other than murder,” LePage said. “You have shown no remorse. You take no responsibility for your actions.”
Todd’s victim attended the hearing, and tears rolled down her face as the sentence was announced. She hugged Newton County assistant prosecutors Bill Dobbs and Shellé Riley after the hearing.
A McDonald County jury found Todd guilty in July on all five felony counts he was facing in the stabbing, beating and sexual assault of the woman. He was convicted of assault, rape, sodomy, armed criminal action and felonious restraint at the conclusion of a three-day trial in Pineville, where the case was moved on a change of venue from Newton County.
In the sentencing phase of the trial, the jury decided that Todd should be assessed a life term for assault, 80 years for rape, 90 years for sodomy, 50 years for armed criminal action and seven years for felonious restraint.
LePage followed the jury’s recommendations and ordered that the sentences run consecutively.
“They (jurors) didn’t want you to ever see the light of day,” LePage said. “You will be (in prison) the rest of your life.”
Todd stabbed the 55-year-old woman multiple times with a barbecue fork Sept. 5, 2009, at his home at Neosho. He then shut her in a closet, beat her repeatedly, tied her up in a bathroom while he went to a store to buy alcohol, and sexually assaulted her upon his return.
The woman’s ordeal lasted 12 hours before Todd passed out, and she was able to flee naked from the home and call police. She suffered multiple stab wounds, a broken finger and two collapsed lungs.
Jurors did not buy into claims by the defense that Todd was a paranoid schizophrenic suffering from a delusion that he had died and that the devil had taken over his body when he committed the crimes.
Riley read a statement from the victim before the sentencing in which she called Todd a monster.
“You aren’t human or even an animal; you’re pure evil,” she said.
Previous convictions
Kevin Todd has been a registered sex offender since being convicted of raping an underage girl in 1979 in California. He served nine years in prison for that crime. He was released on parole in June 1991 and completed parole in California in 1994. He first registered as a sex offender in Missouri in July 2006.
