Letter Throws A Twist Into Sentencing

A keystone of Richard McDivitt's trial in December was the emotional testimony of the teenage girl he allegedly molested.

On Friday, with 90 years in prison at stake, McDivitt produced a letter supposedly signed by the victim that recanted all her previous statements.

Circuit Judge Stephen Rushing ordered an investigation into the source of the letter, but it didn't slow him from continuing with the sentencing.

McDivitt, 44, of Brooksville, received 35 years in prison, followed by 10 years sex offender probation.

Over two days of trial in December, jurors heard testimony about how McDivitt inappropriately touched his teenage relative, who was 14 at the time.

McDivitt was found guilty of all four charges against him: two counts of sexual battery on a child between the ages of 12 and 18 and lewd and lascivious molestation.

The contents of the one-paragraph letter essentially served as a reinforcement of McDivitt's alibi. His attorney suggested during the trial the allegations were a way for the victim to get even after McDivitt left her mother.

The typed letter basically states that "(the victim) lied," said Assistant State Attorney Lisa Herndon, who prosecuted the case.

The victim testified under oath in court on Friday that she had never seen the letter. There was no return address on the envelope, but it was postmarked Jan. 12 in St. Petersburg - the time period in between the verdict and the sentencing. The victim's family lives in the Brooksville area.

"Obviously it's suspicious by being typed," Herndon said. "It doesn't sound like something the victim would write."

McDivitt's attorney, Michael Amico, called the sudden appearance of the letter "quite odd."

"I've never had something like this happen," he said, adding that the letter's "veracity has not been verified."

Amico said the letter will be placed in the appellate file and passed on to the lawyer that next takes the case.