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Mentally ill inmate with throat cancer sentenced to prison for molesting 13-year-old

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer - 6/21/2018

June 21--Pleading guilty to molesting a 13-year-old girl over a span of four years, 57-year-old Glamorous Hollywood Lane stood before a judge Thursday in Muscogee Superior Court, a brace on his neck, his voice barely audible and his hands shaking so violently he couldn't sign the paperwork.

Jailed since July 2013 and charged with 11 felony counts, he since has been diagnosed with throat cancer and severe mental illness, the latter so afflicting him that he could not communicate with his attorney two years ago when prosecutors tried to take the case to trial. He repeatedly has had court-ordered psychological evaluations, which further delayed efforts to resolve the case.

It was resolved with his Thursday plea to one count of child molestation, for which Judge Ben Land sentenced him to 20 years in prison with 10 to serve and the rest on probation. Lane will get credit for the time spent in jail awaiting trial.

Senior District Attorney Don Kelly and defense attorney Nancy Miller worked out the plea deal, which will benefit the county by shifting Lane's medical expenses to the state prison system.

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The victim, now 18, was in court for the sentencing. "I'm OK with it," she said of the plea agreement. When Kelly asked how the crime had affected her, she said she suffers from depression and remains in counseling.

When detectives initiated their investigation in June 2013, the victim told them Lane started molesting her when she was in fourth grade, and sometimes showed her pornographic videos. Kelly said the assaults started in 2009.

The police investigation uncovered semen evidence that matched Lane's DNA profile, Kelly said.

In jail, Lane's health rapidly declined. On Thursday he told Land he hears voices in his head and has seizures, and he takes medication for the seizures, the throat cancer and his mental illness. He said he graduated high school and had five years of college, but when Land asked whether he could read and understand English, he replied, "If I take my time."

When released from prison, he will have to register as a sex offender. Land ordered that he get sex-offender counseling, stay away from juveniles, watch no pornography and use no illegal drugs.

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(c)2018 the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Ga.)

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