More About West Virginia Incest Case

This article gives more information about this case.

A Rand man pleaded guilty to incest in Kanawha Circuit Court, admitting he had sex with his daughter, subsequently impregnating her.

Larry William Darby, 41, told Judge James Stucky, "I had sex with my daughter and we had a baby."

Darby said the girl was 19 when the sexual act occurred between them last year at their home in Rand.

He said? Isn’t this verifiable by doing simple math?

When asked how many children he had, Darby replied he had four -- aged 21, 20, 16 and a newborn.

Asked if he was married, Darby replied that he would be divorced as of Tuesday.

Darby also pleaded guilty to sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or person in a position of trust. That charge pertains to his 16-year-old stepdaughter, whose breasts he touched when she was 14 years old.

It is any wonder his marriage is ending?

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors will not seek an enhanced sentence based on Darby's past felony record, which involves sexual abuse charges in Indiana.

Stucky will sentence Darby Jan. 12. He faces a possible five- to 15-year prison sentence on the incest charge and a 10- to 20-year prison sentence on the sexual abuse charge.

He should be locked up for a long time for anything he’s done to a minor. There should be no charge for any consensual sex involving adults. If he forced himself on an adult, he should be charged for rape or sexual assault for that.

Prison Sentence in West Virginia Incest Case

Most news sources hide the identity of sex crime victims. Most news sources hide the identity of minor victims. We're never given the age of the supposed victim in this case. Overall, I find this coverage of the story to be deficient.

A father got his daughter pregnant, and she had the baby.

Larry Darby was sentenced to 15 to 35 years in jail for incest and sexual assault by a parent.

He was sentenced for "incest and sexual assault." Was the victim underage? Or was she an adult who consented. If she was an adult, the sexual assault charge would indicate she did not consent. Either the incest charge was superfluous, or there were consensual encounters that were incestuous, but did not fall under the sexual assault category. I wish we had clarification.

"I don't ever want to lie to my child," Aleena Jones said. "I'm scared to tell him the truth because I don't want him to hate me for what happened."

If she was coerced, she had nothing for which to apologize.

This is where we get some indication that there is more to this than consensual sex between adults (which should not be a crime at all):

The family says this isn't the first time he has had sexual contact with young girls.

"He was glaring at me the whole time I was up on the stand," Jones said. "It just made me feel even nastier."

The family says he's fondled another victim and has served time for it.

"My second daughter was involved in all of this, too, and he tried to do stuff to her, too," Kimberly Jones said.

"Young girls" would indicate minors to me. But we're never given ages for any of the girls.

Now, Darby will spend more than a decade in a cell, but with the possibility of parole.

"I'm not willing to take a chance on these types of people who engage in these types of crimes," Prosecutor Mark Plants said.

If Darby gets out, he will have to spend the next 50 years on supervised release.

It is bad enough the law isn't more precise when it comes to consenting adults vs. an adult preying on a minor, lumping both together as "incest." But the media does this as well. There should be more clarity in reporting. If this woman is a victim, her name should not have been published.