Appeals court upholds 2,460-year sentence

On Oct. 22, Fort Worth’s 2nd Court of Appeals affirmed James Kevin Pope’s 40 life sentences for sexual assault of a child and three 20-year sentences -- one for each of three counts of sexual performance of a child. Because the 415th District Court ordered Pope to serve the sentences consecutively, he could face up to 2,460 years in prison for engaging in group sex with his three teenage daughters. That estimate is based on 60 years per life sentence, according to Eddy Lewallen, the Parker County assistant district attorney who represents the state in the appeal of Pope v. State. In its per curiam opinion, the 2nd Court held that the evidence Pope engaged in sexual acts with his daughters was factually sufficient despite the trial court’s failure to provide a jury instruction on which alleged acts -- and the dates of those acts -- the state had elected to rely  for conviction. The 2nd Court found that the trial court’s error of omission in the jury charge was harmless in that prosecutors, using calendars and other exhibits, had discussed every alleged act on which the state had elected to rely in its closing arguments. Justices Lee Ann Dauphinot, Terrie Livingston and Anne Gardner sat on the panel that heard Pope. Fort Worth solo Richard Alley, Pope’s attorney, did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.
-- Mary Alice Robbins