Defendant who represented self in court sentenced to 30 years on child sex charges

Jamaal Pennington, 39, of Phoenix, was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge on felony child sex charges.

A jury convicted Pennington on Aug. 30 on charges accusing him of having sex with a minor and causing another adult to have sex with a minor in March 2018.

Judge Scott Minder sentenced Pennington to 13 years for the conviction for sexual conduct with a minor. Pennington received credit for that sentence for 2,125 days he had already spent in jail. Minder also sentenced Pennington to 17 years on the other charge, technically molestation of a child. The sentences are mandatory consecutive sentences.

At one time, Pennington had faced nine felony charges, from child sex trafficking to aggravated assault to sexual conduct with a minor, after being indicted in 2021. He represented himself at trial this summer. Seven of the charges were dismissed by the judge, five on a motion by prosecutors and two on a motion by Pennington, after a witness refused to testify.

The victim in the remaining charges claimed that Pennington was not the person who touched her, and Pennington maintained his innocence.

Attorney Vladimir Gagic had his law license suspended while serving as Pennington’s public defender, after 20 years as an Arizona lawyer. He believed Pennington was innocent of all charges, and accused the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and the courts of engaging in a conspiracy against Pennington. The County Attorney's Office strongly rejected that claim.

At the sentencing hearing on Friday, Sherika Rhymes, speaking via Zoom on behalf of victims of crimes related to charges that had been dismissed in the case, said Pennington's case had been a long process for her family to endure.

"You deserve every part of your sentence that you've given," Rhymes said to Pennington. "You have ran from accountability. You have ran from responsibility."

Minder said that while he allowed Rhymes and another victim representative to speak about offenses that were dismissed, he did not use their statements "in any way, shape or form" to sentence Pennington.

Speaking on behalf of Pennington, Pastor Andre Miller, vice president of the Arizona state conference of the NAACP, called the jury verdicts against Pennington unjust.

"There are many concerns with this case," Miller said. "I asked for an integrity review from the county attorney, and it was my belief that that would happen prior to sentencing because it's hard to unravel the conviction, especially with black and brown defendants."

A spokesperson for the County Attorney's Office said its Prosecution Integrity Unit would conduct a review of the case after the sentencing.

Several family members spoke on Pennington's behalf, including his younger sister Jazmone Pennington.

"My brother is not who you all are trying to paint him to be," Pennington said. "I believe that there was a lot of unjust things that happened during the trial."

Carol Pennington, Pennington's mother, said her son has a large family "who loves him dearly."

"To my knowledge, he has never harmed anyone," she said of her son.

In his remarks, Pennington said he had been convicted without a thorough investigation or sufficient evidence.

"The system is broken," Pennington said. "The police will arrest you on words alone."

Minder cited family and community support, Miller's words and Pennington's lack of a felony history as mitigating circumstances. The state presented no aggravating circumstances.

"The evidence was presented here. A jury made their decision, and I am going to respect their decision," Minder said. "It does not mean that I don't have some level of hope that you have not done these things."

Minder then told Pennington that he has an opportunity through appeals or post-conviction relief to make additional arguments about his perceived innocence.

"I normally don't say that, but I raised it now because you have in your briefing and your discussions here today talked about a lot of things you did not raise at trial," Minder told Pennington, who had represented himself with the aid of a legal adviser.

"I have no idea whether that would have changed anybody's mind at trial. And I have no idea what evidence you have to support those things," Minder said. "But it is clear that you have a firm conviction — it is clear that your family has firm conviction — it is clear that members of the community have a firm conviction —that this is an unjust result."

Pennington told the court he had filed an appeal of the convictions.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jamaal Pennington sentenced to 30 years in prison on child sex charges