Pierce County prosecutors will ask a judge next week to sentence Steven Craig Powell to 10 years in prison for taking photographs of two young neighbor girls to use for his sexual gratification.
A jury last month convicted Powell of 14 counts of voyeurism. Prosecutors argued at his trial that Powell, 62, took photos of the girls, then 8 and 10, as they bathed and used the toilet in a house next door to him near Puyallup.
The trial attracted national media attention because of Powell’s connections to missing Utah mother and former Puyallup resident Susan Cox Powell. He is her father-in-law.
Susan Powell went missing in December 2009 from her home near Salt Lake City and is presumed dead. Her husband, Josh Powell, was being investigated in her disappearance up until he killed their two young sons and himself in Pierce County earlier this year.
Deputy prosecutors Grant Blinn and Bryce Nelson wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Monday that Steven Powell, who faces a standard range of three years, seven months to four years, nine months in prison, deserves a much harsher punishment.
A standard-range sentence would allow most of his crimes to go unpunished, given his offender score and sentencing laws, the prosecutors argued.
“Such a sentence holds the defendant accountable for his crimes against (both girls) and ensures that the defendant’s repeated criminal conduct does not go unpunished,” their memorandum states.
Attempts to reach Powell’s defense team of Mark Quigley and Travis Currie were unsuccessful Thursday. They have not yet filed a sentencing memorandum of their own.
Powell is to be sentenced June 15 by Superior Court Judge Ronald Culpepper.
adam.lynn @thenewstribune.com 253-597-8644 blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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