Conviction upheld for ‘worst of the worst’

LAKE CHARLES, La. — An appeals court in Louisiana upheld the sentence of a criminal defendant serving 50 years at hard labor, the result of a plea bargain he took after molesting his stepdaughter from when she was 11 to 14 years old. The appeals court finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it sentenced him; the judge called defendant among the “worst of the worst” offenders, an assessment the appellate court agreed with.