Eleven and a half years handed down in sexual assault case

Charles Christopher White, the man that assaulted a young female tourist in a Pigeon Forge motel parking lot last summer, was sentenced to eleven and a half years in prison last afternoon in the Sevierville Courthouse. White was originally sentenced to twelve years in prison, however the judge, in his closing statement, noted that White’s decision not to require testimony from the young victim during cross-examination afforded White a modicum of leniency. However, due to White’s extensive criminal history, which includes three episodes of sexual battery, two episodes of indecent exposure, one episode of criminal trespass, and one episode of theft, the court could not afford any more leniencies in addition to the six-month sentence reduction. According to the court clerks that sat in on the trial, the definitive moment in determining White’s guilt was when the court discovered that White’s DNA evidence (from his tongue saliva) had been extracted from the young victim just minutes after the parking lot assault. James Hickman of Hickman and Gray Law Associates, who served as White’s defense attorney stated that “White’s sentence was certainly in accordance with the law.” Hickman went on to praise the Police Department of Pigeon Forge, who responded with amazing alacrity in extracting White’s saliva from the victim.