Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
State, judge determine she took "passive" role in crimes
DAVENPORT—Michelle Leigh Hopkins, 49, was sentenced to three months in county jail and three months of electronic home monitoring Tuesday after she entered a guilty plea on amended charges of first-degree computer trespassing the previous Tuesday.
Hopkins was sentenced by presiding judge Dan B. Johnson July 5 and immediately booked into jail.
The charges were amended from the previous accusations, which were 25 counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first and second degree.
Prosecutor Nina Fisk told the court that the state originally thought Hopkins would have to face a jury trial and potentially life in prison, but their investigation concluded that she wasn’t as culpable in the crime of having explicit child pornographic images on a cell phone as Scotty Duane Maiden.
Maiden was sentenced to 75 months in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in Feb. 2021.
“Mr. Maiden solicited the images, downloaded them and said he was in control of her phone,” Fisk said. “We felt that (Hopkins) spending the rest of her life in prison wasn’t fair.”
However, Fisk said, Hopkins did know pornographic images were on her phone, and couldn’t escape some fault in the Dec. 2020 incident.
“The images of child porn were some of the worst you could imagine,” Fisk said, before saying the state was asking for a 364-day jail sentence.
Hopkins’ defense attorney, Victoria Iverson, then reiterated that Maiden took advantage of Hopkins and requested no jail time.
“I have never felt so strongly about the innocence of my client,” Iverson said. “I believe she has no culpability in this case.”
Iverson added that if Johnson did still find punishment necessary, he should make an ankle monitor the extent of consequences.
Johnson admitted that the case was “one of the tougher cases” he’s worked in his years as a judge.
“The descriptions of porn are some of the worst I’ve ever seen,” Johnson said.
“However, I do believe there was some domestic violence involved,” he added in response to Iverson saying Maiden physically and sexually abused Hopkins. “Her mistake was knowing that the images were on her phone and not doing anything about it…she didn’t call the police or turn the phone in.”
Johnson said he didn’t think a full year in jail was appropriate, but didn’t think no jail time was appropriate, either. He then leveled the sentence of three months in jail, followed by three months wearing an electronic home monitor.
“She’ll have to finance (the monitor) herself. If she can’t, she’ll have to finish her last three months in jail,” Johnson said. “Looking at all the facts, I think this is a fair resolution.”
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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