ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
An assistant therapist who said he sexually touched a resident of a Roanoke nursing home in hopes of bringing the woman out of a semi-comatose state was sentenced Monday to 4 1/2 years in prison for attempted aggravated sexual battery.
James G. Nowlin had earlier pleaded no contest to abusing a 20-year-old woman who was brain-damaged and partially paralyzed in an automobile accident several years ago.
"Society protects those who cannot protect themselves," Judge Clifford Weckstein said in sentencing Nowlin, who had hoped to leave Roanoke Circuit Court with a suspended sentence and probation.
Because the victim cannot speak, prosecutors say they were forced to reduce a more serious charge of aggravated sexual battery, which would have required proof that the woman suffered emotional distress as a result of the incident.
Nowlin - described as a caring husband and father who took an active role in church and school activities - was arrested last summer after officials at Burrell Nursing Home accidentally learned of the abuse.
Suspecting that a thief was taking items from the woman, administrators installed a hidden video camera in her room. On the first day the camera was installed, it captured Nowlin fondling the woman's breasts intermittently over a period of several hours as she lay in her bed.
The videotape shows Nowlin entering and leaving the room five times, often looking over his shoulder in the direction of the door before the sexual abuse began.
"Obviously, there was a dark side of Mr. Nowlin that many people were not aware of," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Ekirch said, referring to letters from friends and neighbors who described Nowlin as a kind and compassionate man. "But the video shows [the dark side] in black and white."
Nowlin, 40, did not testify Monday. He spoke only briefly before he was sentenced, apologizing to members of the woman's family who were seated in the courtroom.
Isaac Van Patten, an expert in the analysis and treatment of sexual offenders, said that Nowlin told him during a session that he had become "attached" to the victim and tried to help her in ways other than his work as an occupational therapy assistant.
At the time of the abuse last July, Nowlin was no longer working with the woman in an official capacity, but continued to visit her room on a regular basis.
Nowlin said his behavior was not sexually motivated, and that he was only trying to bring the woman out of a semi-comatose state, Van Patten testified. Ekirch argued that Nowlin was trying to rationalize his behavior after getting caught.
In asking for a suspended sentence, defense attorney Tony Anderson said Nowlin already had been punished more than the typical criminal by the stigma attached to a felony conviction.
"He's a man in need of serious help," Anderson said in asking Weckstein to impose a suspended sentence and court-ordered treatment.
Since his arrest, Nowlin has lost his job at Burrell Nursing Home and agreed to the revocation of his license as an occupational therapy assistant.
Nowlin, who had faced up to 10 years in prison, will be eligible for release after he serves about 46 months. Weckstein ordered that he receive treatment for sexual offenders when he is placed on probation after his release.
"Society has to send a message to deter others in your position, and to deter you in your future conduct," Weckstein told Nowlin.
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