GARY DANIEL-KYLE HAY

MOBILE MAN WHO ADMITTED TO RECORDING HIMSELF SEXUALLY ABUSING CHILD GETS ALMOST 34 YEARS, FOX10TV.COM

Mobile, AL - A federal judge on Friday sentenced a man to nearly 34 years in prison for making videos of himself repeatedly sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl, but the judge stopped short of the prosecution request for an effective life sentence. Gary Daniel-Kyle Hay pleaded guilty to federal charges in June. The offenses carry a 30-year maximum prison term, but prosecutors asked the judge to do something that is relatively rare in federal court – stack the prison terms on top of one another. That would have amounted to an effective life prison sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kacey Chappelear told U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose that a consecutive sentence would more accurately reflect the distinct harm that the Mobile man caused his victim on separate occasions. “It’s an appropriate sentence in this case. … We don’t make this request lightly,” she said. DuBose imposed the maximum sentenced for 20 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, but she ordered them to be served at the same time. But she ordered that 45 months of the 30-year-setence on the final count, access with intent to view child pornography, be served after the first 30 years. That results in a total prison term of 33 years and nine months. The judge also ruled that Hay be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for 15 years after his prison sentence. And she ordered him to pay $45,500 in restitution to cover the future costs of counseling for the victim. DuBose expressed sympathy to the girl. “I don’t know how anybody comes back from something like that,” she said. “But we hope and pray for the best.” The case began with an investigation by the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit. According to the Sheriff’s Office, investigators uncovered more than 60 different videos of Hay sexually abusing a girl that he knew. Court records show he had more than 600 explicit images, overall. Hay spoke briefly in court Friday, telling the judge that he is eager to participate in whatever counseling programs might be available in the federal prison system. “There’s no undoing what I did,” he said. “But there are things that can alleviate the situation a little bit.” Hay’s lawyer, Jonathan Friedlander, acknowledged that the case involved “very bad conduct” by his client. He said Hay, himself, was a child victim of sexual abuse – by multiple people. He said that is not an excuse but puts the defendant’s actions in context. Friedlander said Hay did not act “out of malice. The defendant is “not irredeemable,” Friedlander added. “He is not a mustache-twirling villain that took pleasure in inflicting harm on someone,” he said. Friedlander told FOX10 outside the courtroom that it is common, in his experience, that sexual abusers were abuse victims, themselves. “And it’s not enough to form a defense for the case, but it is something to consider as far as whether they can be rehabilitated or not,” he said. “You know, ‘cause most of them carry this stuff down, and if the person’s never caught, they never get counseling for it.” Noting that hay just turned 26 years old, Friedlander added: “I hope that he can get some help and, you know, try to do something positive with his life in the little time that he’ll have when he does get out.”