COURTS: Hartland man gets 5-year sentence in sex abuse case

Courts

March 15, 2008

By April Amadon/amadona@gnnewspaper.com The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Sat Mar 15, 2008, 02:27 AM EDT

A Hartland man was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl.

Norman C. Sonberg, 51, of Ridge Road, received the sentence Friday in Niagara County Court after a last-minute effort to take back his plea to first-degree sexual abuse, a violent felony.

Sonberg pleaded guilty Jan. 16, but told Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza on Friday that he wished to instead take the case to trial because he had been on medication that day and did not understand the plea.

Sperrazza denied the request, telling Sonberg and his attorney, Public Defender Michelle Bergevin, that she had asked him during the plea proceedings if he was on any medication.

“I gave him an opportunity to tell me that,” Sperrazza said. “I asked him whether or not the medication that day ... had affected his ability to think clear-headed.”

Sonberg had been named in a 15-count indictment on charges including second-degree criminal sexual act, forcible touching and second-degree rape.

The teenage victim and her family were in the courtroom Friday, but the girl got up and left when Assistant District Attorney Robert Zucco began speaking about what she had gone through.

“She has had a very difficult time talking about what happened to her,” Zucco said. “It has had an extreme impact on her. I know she’s going to have a tough time.”

Zucco said Sonberg’s attempt to withdraw his plea was “more evidence of the defendant’s refusal to accept responsibility for his actions, and his complete lack of empathy for the victim.”

Bergevin said Sonberg does not accept responsibility because he denies he committed the crime.

“He tells me it’s because he did not do this crime, and he would like the opportunity to take this to trial,” she said.

On top of the five-year sentence, Sonberg was sentenced to three years of post-release supervision and must also register as a sex offender upon his release.

The victim was granted a 10-year order of protection.

Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.

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