NORTHAMPTON — The suspended Massachusetts state trooper convicted last month of sexually assaulting a woman he met online will serve six months in jail, with his sentence scheduled to begin in August, a judge ruled Monday.
Christopher Kennedy, 33, of West Springfield, was convicted May 27 in Hampshire Superior Court of indecent exposure, assault and battery and indecent assault and battery.
Kennedy’s attorney, David Hoose, of Northampton, has 60 days to convince a Supreme Judicial Court judge to order a new trial on the basis that Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ford misstepped in not instructing the jury to weigh whether Kennedy believed he had consent to engage in sexual activity with the victim.
Kennedy formerly worked in the Northampton barracks until he was suspended without pay days after the assault, according to the state police. He remains suspended without pay as of Monday.
Prosecutors previously said in court that the full uniformed Kennedy exposed himself to the woman in her Worthington home on a July evening in 2014 and forced her to grope him. The two met on a dating website and had exchanged sexually suggestive messages.
But toward the end of the time they spent messaging each other, the victim testified during the trial, she had grown uncomfortable with the relationship after realizing he was cheating on his wife.
The Daily Hampshire Gazette generally does not identify the victims of sexual assault.
Ford, who was sitting in Franklin Superior Court in Greenfield on Monday, sentenced Kennedy to six months in the Hampshire County House of Correction on the exposure charge, and one year on the assault and battery charge — with six months to be served concurrently with the first charge, and the rest suspended for two years of probation. Ford also ordered two years of probation on the indecent assault and battery charge.
Kennedy’s jail sentence will begin Aug. 15 unless a new trial is ordered.
As part of Kennedy’s probation terms, he must submit to a sex offender treatment evaluation and complete any recommended follow-up treatment, possess no firearms, surrender any and all firearms licenses, submit a DNA sample, wear a GPS device and have no contact with the victim.
In two weeks, Hoose said he will return to court to argue that Kennedy be exempt from registering as a sex offender.
Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Jennifer Suhl asked Ford to impose a sentence of 2 1/2 years in the House of Correction. Kennedy faced a maximum sentence of five years in state prison on the indecent assault and battery charge.
Kennedy’s father, wife, cousins, aunts and uncles were in court Monday — some of them staring ahead expressionless, while others buried their heads in their hands.
Suhl told the judge that while Kennedy has a lot of support from relatives and friends, “his family is not being sentenced for his conduct — he is.”
Suhl also referred to a letter she said Kennedy wrote to the victim in which he apologized for causing her “distress” and “discomfort.” She saw it for the first time today, Suhl said.
Kennedy had two years to take responsibility for his actions, Suhl said in court, so his attempt “is really quite empty at this point.”
Suhl recounted how Kennedy pressed the woman against a countertop and then sexually assaulted her.
The victim also addressed the court Monday.
“I don’t think I could describe to anybody how terrifying it was to be pressed up against with a loaded weapon,” she told Ford.
“Terrified,” she said, is an understatement. “I slept with a knife by my bed that night,” the woman added.
Hoose told the judge that Kennedy had turned down an agreed-upon plea arrangement that would have resulted the trooper being placed on probation for one year probation, without having to register as a sex offender.
“(His) choice to take this case to trial should not convert this case to a jail case,” Hoose said in court, adding that he believes Kennedy was indicted only because he was a state trooper.
The court also heard an emotional appeal from Kennedy’s wife, Jessica, 29, who implored the judge to spare her husband from jail time. “Despite my hard feelings toward Chris, I cannot imagine going home to my children to tell them daddy isn’t coming home,” Jessica said, her hands trembling and voice quivering.
“As a sex offender, he will never be able to do things like coach our children’s baseball teams or go on field trips,” Jessica said, now sobbing. “Society as a whole will not be any safer with Chris in jail.”
Michael Majchrowicz can reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.