Alabama man sentenced in child incest case - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Authorities say Evieaz Devante Graham, 19, of Goodwater, Ala. raped and sodomized his 12-year-old female relative in July of last year. The incident happened in Montgomery.

At that time, Graham was arrested and charged with six sexual assault charges relating to the same family victim, including rape and sodomy.

He has now been sentenced to a 10-year split sentence and under the State Sentencing Act, he must serve three years in prison.

"The youngest that we've seen is 2.5 years old," explains Jannah Bailey, who works with Child Protect Advocacy Center in Montgomery. The center is a link between law enforcement and Department of Human Resources investigators.

"Of the 600 cases that we interview, 98% of what we see are sex abuse cases," Bailey said.

Bailey says most child victims know their offender. Investigators interviewed the 12-year-old victim in this case and say she has gone through months on counseling.

"It really has more of an impact on them because it was someone they knew and loved," Bailey explained.

So why was Graham only convicted for one count?

"It's a difficult case for the victim and victims' family and we were concerned about the victim's well being while still trying to bring closure. Graham agreed to plead guilty on one charge and because of that, we chose not to prosecute the other charges," Montgomery County Deputy District Attorney Seth Gowan said.

Gowan says Graham will serve three years and will most likely be back out on the streets with a three year supervised probation.

Some may say that's not a lot of time, but advocacy groups say only about 30 percent of reported cases actually make it to court for various reason and the offenders are brought to justice.

Graham is currently being held in the Montgomery County Detention Facility until he is transported to prison.

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