The document provides background on Christopher Bour, including that he is 40 years old, has no prior criminal record, and has held various jobs throughout his life including as a firefighter and running several small businesses. It describes the nature of his offenses, including that he received and distributed child pornography and met with a woman to sexually abuse her young children. The document argues that a 30 year sentence is appropriate given research showing recidivism rates for sex offenders decrease significantly after age 65 and that the victims may not remember the abuse. It also requests the court consider restitution but not forfeiture of Bour's real estate
The document provides background on Christopher Bour, including that he is 40 years old, has no prior criminal record, and has held various jobs throughout his life including as a firefighter and running several small businesses. It describes the nature of his offenses, including that he received and distributed child pornography and met with a woman to sexually abuse her young children. The document argues that a 30 year sentence is appropriate given research showing recidivism rates for sex offenders decrease significantly after age 65 and that the victims may not remember the abuse. It also requests the court consider restitution but not forfeiture of Bour's real estate
The document provides background on Christopher Bour, including that he is 40 years old, has no prior criminal record, and has held various jobs throughout his life including as a firefighter and running several small businesses. It describes the nature of his offenses, including that he received and distributed child pornography and met with a woman to sexually abuse her young children. The document argues that a 30 year sentence is appropriate given research showing recidivism rates for sex offenders decrease significantly after age 65 and that the victims may not remember the abuse. It also requests the court consider restitution but not forfeiture of Bour's real estate
The Defendant, Christopher Bour, by counsel submits the following for the Courts consideration in imposing a sentence upon him. HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DEFENDANT
Christopher Bour is 40 years old and has never been arrested in his life until the present case. Christopher grew up with only his mother and brother, as he did not know who his father was. He has had no contact with his mother since age 19 up until recently after his arrest. Growing up, Christopher participated in the Juvenile Workshop in Plainfield, Indiana as well as the United States Air Force Office of Security Police in Boston, Massachusetts. (See Exhibit A attached). Christopher has been a jack of all trades beginning with a paper route at the age of 11. When he was 16, he got a job as a bus boy. At the age of 17, he started working at Arbys and, after a short period of time, was promoted to manager. When Christopher was 20 years old, he was a firefighter for Dolton, Illinois. After the age of case 2:13-cr-00036-RL-APR document 63 filed 05/08/14 page 1 of 6 2
20, Christopher never worked for anyone, but was a self-employed entrepreneur. His first business was Steaks n Stuff which sold frozen steaks and seafood door to door. Next was a lawn care business, and finally Concrete Solutions. (See Exhibit B attached). While in custody for this case, Christopher has developed a business plan for when he is released from prison. (See Exhibit C attached) Although Christopher has never been married, he has had four significant long-term relationships with adult females. One of his long term relationships included living together for one and half years. (See Exhibit D attached). Some of the pictures in the attached exhibits show him as an extra in the film Public Enemy from 2009. At some point in his life, Christopher began viewing adult pornography. He then began to view more youthful images, which progressed into child pornography. Viewing pornography, both adult and child, seemed to become an addiction for him. In spite of the above, there is a good and redeemable side of Christopher Bour as evidenced by the character letters attached hereto as Exhibit E. NATURE AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE OFFENSE Christopher Bour now realizes that what he did in these crimes was very wrong. He did help the authorities after he was arrested to locate the mother of the victim. Christopher provided the following information to the government: 1) The mother has a 219 telephone number; 2) he met her through a dating service; 3) he texted back and forth with the mother regarding a time to meet using his telephone; 4) the mother is a heavy-set black female; 5) she lived in a single story apartment case 2:13-cr-00036-RL-APR document 63 filed 05/08/14 page 2 of 6 3
complex surrounded by a wrought-iron fence off of Burr Street, 1 mile north of the expressway on the left hand side, just past the dump; 6) the mothers apartment was in the middle of the complex; and 7) the pictures were taken in her apartment. (See United States v. Natasha Hillard, Case No. 2:13-CR-36, Criminal Complaint [DE 1] filed February 22, 2013, paragraph 28). After his first questioning by the police in the present case, Christopher did cooperate with the authorities. Christopher did admit receiving and downloading child pornography. As far as the text messages with TJ, Christopher was only sending those messages as role playing. Christopher never told Natasha Hillard that he had been with a prior child. Also, Christopher never threatened Natasha Hillard to coerce or manipulate her to allow him to do this to her children. In fact, as evidenced by Natasha Hillards own statements, it was approximately 50/50 on contacting between herself and Christopher. At one point, Christopher wanted to stop seeing Hillards child and sent her a text message to that effect. This is collaborated by the fact contained in Hillards Rule 11 Proffer of March 13, 2013 where Bour told Hillard that had had moved to South Bend and was not living in Gary. Christopher told her this so she would leave him alone. Hopefully the victims in this case, Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, will not remember any of the actions of either Defendant. Among adults, the average age of earliest memory is typically 3-4 years. Patricia J. Baur & Marina Larkina (2013): The onset of childhood amnesia in childhood: a prospective investigation of the course case 2:13-cr-00036-RL-APR document 63 filed 05/08/14 page 3 of 6 4
and determinants of forgetting early life events, found at Tandfonline. Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA (2013). Studies in which children are asked to report their earliest memories provide evidence of amnesia for early-life events by the end of the first decade of life. (Id at 2). Another factor for this Court to consider is that even though there may have been some emotional or psychological damage, Jane Doe 1 or Jane Doe 2 did not experience any physical damage. It is with great hope that they do not remember any of the events as evidenced in the Bauer & Larkina, Memory (2013) article cited above. THE NEED FOR THE SENTENCE IMPOSED The guideline calculation is well past Offense Level 43, which just goes to show how illogical the calculation is for child sex offense cases. A sentence of life as recommended by the guideline would be a greater than necessary sentence to comply with the purposes set forth in 18 U.S.C. 3553(a). Christopher is currently 40 years of age and if the Court were to impose the mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years, he would serve 25.5 years in prison. Recidivism rates for child molesters decreases over their lifespan. Laws, R. & ODonohue, W., Sexual Deviance, Theory, Assessment and Treatment (2008) (See Exhibit C attached). The recidivism rate for child molesters age 65 or older is less than 5% after their release from custody. (See graph attached as Exhibit F). If the Court were to sentence Christopher to 30 years imprisonment, he would be released from custody at approximately 65 years old. case 2:13-cr-00036-RL-APR document 63 filed 05/08/14 page 4 of 6 5
FORFEITURE AND RESTITUTION While Christopher agrees to forfeit any computer or video equipment that was used with the crimes, he does not agree to forfeit the real estate or proceeds derived from the sale therefrom. Additionally, there is no agreement as to restitution. The defense does not know what a reasonable figure would be for restitution for Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 as well as for the non-homemade child pornography. However, Christopher is not opposed to paying reasonable restitution from the sale proceeds of his real estate. CONCLUSION
WHEREFORE, based upon the foregoing facts and circumstances, the Defendant respectfully requests this Court to sentence him to 30 years imprisonment, followed by a term of supervised release.
Dated: May 8, 2014
Northern District of Indiana Federal Community Defenders, Inc.
By: /s/ Matthew D. Soliday Matthew D. Soliday 31 East Sibley Street Hammond, IN 46320 Phone: (219) 937-8020 Fax: (219) 937-8021 eMail: [email protected]
case 2:13-cr-00036-RL-APR document 63 filed 05/08/14 page 5 of 6
6 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on May 8, 2014 I electronically filed the foregoing with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system which sent notification of such filing to the following: Jill Rochelle Koster, Assistant United States Attorney.
/s/ Matthew D. Soliday Matthew D. Soliday, Northern District of Indiana Federal Community Defenders, Inc.
case 2:13-cr-00036-RL-APR document 63 filed 05/08/14 page 6 of 6
United States v. Manuel Rosario, Marta Serrano, Jose Antonio Vasquez A/K/A "Jose Ramon Vasquez," Hipolito Diaz, A/K/A "Polo," Porfiria Lopez, A/K/A "Giga," Floribell Colon, A/K/A "The Blonde," Jesus Batista-Sanchez, Iris Ortiz, A/K/A "Edie,", 820 F.2d 584, 2d Cir. (1987)
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