Pensacola judge sentences child rapist to life
Circuit Judge John Simon sentenced two men to lengthy prison sentences Monday for two separate child sex assault cases.
Joseph Anady, 21, of Pensacola will spend the rest of his life in Florida's Department of Corrections after a jury found him guilty of raping a 7-year-old girl multiple times in 2021 and 2022. Simon sentenced him to two life sentences for one count of sexual assault and one count of molesting a child under 12 years old.
"The thing that struck me was that this was a 7-year-old girl, and a jury found you guilty of committing these acts, which I find to be heinous," Simon told Anady before levying his sentence. "You took the innocence of that young girl, based on the verdict, and the court will sentence you accordingly."
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Simon also sentenced him to 15 years for lewd or lascivious exhibition and an additional five years years in prison for battery. He's also been designated as a sexual predator.
During the hearing, Anady maintained his innocence, saying he's done many wrong things in his life but is not guilty of the crimes levied against him.
"I know I'm not guilty, and I hope one day by the grace of God I'll be able to prove it," Anady told the court Monday. "I deserve to be punished for being a heathen, but not of these crimes."
After Simon's sentence, Anady said he'll be appealing his case on the basis of insufficient counsel.
Later in the day, Simon also sentenced 69-year-old Terry Howell of Arizona to 15 years in state prison after he pleaded no contest to two counts of molesting two local 5-year-olds.
Howell was originally charged with two counts of child molestation under 12, which required a minimum mandatory 25-year sentence, but his plea offer allowed him to plea to molestation of a child between 12 and 16, changing his mandatory minimum to 42 months prison. The plea also capped his maximum at 15 years.
"Frankly, it's like I tell anybody, what you did is you took away their innocence," Simon told Howell just before sentencing him. "You decided to, for some reason for your own satisfaction, do this to these kids who are now in therapy because of your actions."
Howell claimed he was innocent because his actions were accidental. He told the court he was tickling the twins under a blanket, and he said he stopped immediately when he realized he was "below the waist."
However, the prosecutor referenced his arrest report that said Howell confessed to a family member two years after the incident and later "spontaneously confessed" to deputies that he molested the girls.
"Terry commenced to telling the deputies that he had a good life, he should not have done it; he did it, 'stupid me' and told deputies that he had 'sexual play' with (the twins)," the arrest report says.
Simon also sentenced Howell to 15 years of probation for count two and he will be a registered sex offender.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Florida man who raped 7-year-old gets life in prison
