WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The sentencing hearing for former South Royalton School Principal Dean Stearns has been pushed back to January, meaning it will be 13 months between the time he was convicted for secretly recording five teenage girls inside his Sharon home and when a judge will determine what prison time, if any, he should serve.
The delay is frustrating the family of at least one victim, and attorneys in the case also acknowledge it’s an unusual time frame.
Stearns, 57, pleaded guilty in December 2018 to two felony counts of promoting a sexual recording or image and five misdemeanor counts of voyeurism for the incidents that occurred in 2016 and 2017, and he had hoped to be sentenced this summer, said his attorney, Michael Shane. But a series of slowdowns and a tight court schedule mean Stearns won’t be sentenced until January.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Stearns could serve up to five years of a 10- to 15-year prison sentence. Or he could serve no time at all, if Shane opts to argue that the prison sentence should be suspended and a Vermont Superior Court judge agrees.
Deputy Windsor County State’s Attorney Heidi Remick called the length of time between Stearns’ plea hearing and his sentencing hearing “really unheard of” and noted that if the court found time in its schedule to hold the hearing sooner, “we will happily take it.”
“Sentencing is an important stage in the process for victims; it’s the part that brings closure,” Remick said. “It’s difficult and unfair to victims when cases drag out as long as they often do, and it’s particularly frustrating here, where the conviction has happened.”
The mother of one of the victims said the lengthy process “both angers and disheartens” her. She also called the plea deal unsatisfactory, saying Stearns’ crimes had an “acute” impact on her daughter.
“It is important for the victims to be able to put this behind them as best they can. We put our trust in Mr. Stearns when we allowed our daughter to visit her friend in his home,” she told the Valley News in an email when asked for comment. “We also put our trust in a system that we believed would bring justice to her and the other young victims of his egregious behavior. To date, both have failed us.”
The Valley News generally doesn’t identify victims of sex crimes.
Even Stearns isn’t pleased with the time frame, according to his attorney.
“Mr. Stearns has wanted to be sentenced since the change of plea in this case,” Shane said via email. “This weighs heavily on him and his family. … Furthermore, Mr. Stearns has nothing but sympathy for the victims who are awaiting closure.”
Shane contends the slowdowns in the case were out of Stearns’ control.
The presentencing investigation report and psychosexual evaluation, two pieces that come before a sentencing hearing in this type of case, were completed in April. A status conference was held on May 6, and Stearns, through Shane, filed an objection on May 13 to information that was contained in the report. Remick responded a week later.
Windsor Superior Court Judge Timothy Tomasi on May 31 issued an order on the objections and said they could be addressed at the sentencing hearing.
“At that point, Mr. Stearns was ready, willing and able to be sentenced,” Shane said.
A month after Tomasi ruled on the motion, court staff, on July 9, set the sentencing hearing, which is expected to take more than a day, for Oct. 23 and 24.
Two days later, Shane filed a motion to continue the trial dates because his wife is slated to have twins in October. The court on July 12 reset the sentencing hearing for Nov. 26 and 27, and Shane filed a new motion to continue that hearing, which Tomasi granted on July 30. Stearns’ treatment provider, who will testify on his behalf at the hearing, is out of town on vacation on those November days, according to the motion.
Court staff then set the sentencing hearing for Jan. 22 and 23, 2020.
To suggest that the majority of the delays are the court’s fault is incorrect, Chief Superior Court Judge Brian Grearson said via email.
After the May status conference, the judge in the case “proceeded to identify the time needed for trial.”
“Keep in mind that with the volume of cases that are filed in Windsor, the court normally schedules out a minimum of two months or longer because of schedules that are already set. That would eliminate June and probably most of July, leaving little time in the summer to identify the two days necessary for the sentencing to be scheduled,” Grearson wrote.
Grearson noted summertime is “historically” a difficult time to coordinate schedules, since judges or attorneys in the case already may have scheduled vacations on the proposed dates for a hearing. In July, the court identified the earliest available dates for the hearing, which were October, he said. The defense then filed two motions to continue.
“Has this series of events resulted in a longer than normal delay between plea change and sentencing? Yes,” Grearson said. “But … to suggest that more than anything, the delay is due to court scheduling is not supported by the record.”
Remick acknowledged that there are several factors at play in this particular case, including a sentencing hearing that is “fairly lengthy.”
She stressed the importance of having a sentencing hearing in relatively close proximity to the offense or plea hearing.
“There is frustration in the way that the delay impacts the efficacy of whatever the sentence ultimately is,” Remick said.
The Stearns case started in November 2017 when one of the victims — all of whom had stayed at Stearns’ home — found a fake cellphone charger with a camera embedded in it in the bathroom she used while she was a guest in his house.
Police found additional devices with photos and videos and identified four other victims ranging in age from 14 to 17.
One of the victims lived with Stearns and his wife in the fall of 2016 and another lived there for about four months in 2017. The three other victims were visitors to the Stearns’ Sharon home in 2017.
Vermont State Police swept South Royalton School after the allegations surfaced and reported they found no evidence of hidden cameras or other such devices.
White River Valley Superintendent Bruce Labs said he has tried to keep the school community informed about the case as it progresses, sometimes with letters to parents, and to provide information about counseling as needed.
“I know there are students that are still very upset about this, and why wouldn’t they be?” Labs said.
Stearns, who still lives in Sharon, is working at Bethel Mills, a building materials supplier, filling a temporary role in the finance department, owner Lang Durfee said via email.
“During his short tenure with us, he has performed his duties without issue and has demonstrated a willingness to accept complete responsibility for his past actions as the judicial system takes its course,” Durfee said.
Reached at work this week, Stearns referred a reporter to his attorney.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.