By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
An Ellis County District Court judge sentenced a Victoria man to life in prison this week for a pair of sex crimes involving two young girls and the rape of an 18 year-old nearly six years ago.
On Tuesday, 33-year-old Cody Schultz was sentenced to life in prison with the possibly of parole after 25 years for aggravated indecent liberties with a child under the age of 14, 15 years and six months in prison for electronic solicitation of a child under the age of 14, and an additional 15 years and six months in prison for raping a woman in 2014.
Following mediation in February, Schultz was found guilty on all three charges.
At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Schultz attempted to get Chief Judge Glenn Braun to issue a shorter prison sentence than the one agreed upon in the February mediation.
During the more than two-hour long hearing Tuesday, several family members testified on Schultz’s behalf, insisting he was not a predator and claimed he made a mistake.
In handing down his sentence, Braun disagreed, saying, “this defendant was a predator. The evidence in this case clearly evidences that.”
The almost six years between the rape and the solicitation of the young girls also proved that, according to Braun.
Sentencing Schultz to the prison sentence was, according to Braun, a public safety issue.
Braun called it, “one of the strangest sentencing I’ve been involved in, from the defendant's perspective.”
According to Braun, in voluntary statements submitted to the court by Schultz, he admitted to one of the three crimes he was convicted of but also blamed the victims.
In the court filings, Schultz said he believes the two young victims, ages 12 and 13 at the time of the assaults, should “be held accountable for lying.”
In another court filing, Schultz blamed one of the victims multiple times.
“It’s a 12 year-old girl," Braun said.
Braun presented court records showing the girls told Schultz their ages before the crimes took place.
Charges in a similar incident involving Schultz messaging a 10-year-old
girl in Barton County were dropped as part of the mediation agreement.
Ellis
County Attorney Robert Anderson said the state has evidence of dozensof other attempts by Schultz to solicit young girls for sex.
In a statement to Hays Post, Anderson said, “these two cases have been a top priority of mine since taking office. A lot of time and effort was expended into the investigation and prosecution. I know law enforcement is pleased with the result, and they should be very proud of the work they did. Now that these cases are over with at the trial court level, I hope the victims and their families can begin to put this behind them and heal.”
During his allocution before his sentence was handed down, Schultz claimed to have a list of other offenders who have gotten lighter prison sentences.
Braun dismissed the accusation.
“I have never reduced a sentence on a sex offender," he said.
Anderson said of those allegations, “The criminal justice system simply does not have the time or resources to prosecute every case to the fullest extent of the law. My job is to decide what cases and charges get filed and how aggressively to pursue certain convictions and punishment. Any leniency I give must be viewed in that context. I’ve never seen the court give undeserved leniency. Since taking office last year, I have filed approximately twenty sexual assault cases. No two cases are alike. The nuance of each case, coupled with the wishes of the victims, dictates how aggressively I pursue a given result.”
Both Braun and Anderson applauded the efforts of the Hays Police Department for solving the 2014 rape case. Schultz lived near the woman at the time and DNA evidence proved that he attacked the woman, they said.
Anderson said, “This community should be very proud of all of the agencies, organizations, and people who were part of the result achieved today. Obviously, law enforcement, in particular the investigative unit for Hays PD, did a stellar job in both of these cases, but I would be remiss if I didn’t also praise the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners program at Hays Med; the KBI forensic examiners; the forensic interviewer and advocates from the Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center; the Department of Children & Families; St. Francis Ministries; and my office staff —if I’ve left anyone out, I apologize. All of these people come together to make our community a better place to live.”
Schultz has already indicated that he plans to appeal the sentencing.