The Sluder crimes “most disturbing”–prosecutor says

In the estimation of the solicitor for the 10th Circuit, David Wagner, sex crimes committed by an Oconee County couple on a boy from his 8th years of age to 18 years old are some of the most disturbing that he has ever come across. After all that was said in court this week about what Tony and Edna Sluder did to the boy, it was left to Judge Cordell Maddox to try to make sense of what happened and hand down the appropriate prison sentences. Mr. Sluder on Monday was sentenced to 25 years; Mrs. Sluder yesterday was sentenced to 20 years. Her attorney, along with a doctor who evaluated her mental condition, claimed that she was led by a domineering older husband and followed her religious beliefs in disciplining the child. But Deputy Solicitor Lindsey Simmons bought none of that and told Judge Maddox: “She (Mrs. Sluder) is the reason he is broken”—a reference to the boy, now of adult age, who testified against the couple. Maddox admitted he had much difficulty accepting Mrs. Sluder’s explanation that the sex acts were a form of punishment for their children’s failure to behavior or do chores, such as cleaning their rooms. Solicitor Wagner concluded his statement about the case this way: “The victim in this case has suffered immensely and I hope this resolution will provide some measure of justice for him. Anthony and Edna Sluder deserve every day in prison that they received.” Mr. Sluder is 67; his wife, 56. Taken off her 20-year sentence will be 337 days spent in jail awaiting the resolution of her case.