The Latest: 4-year-old girl’s rapist gets 42 years in prison

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Latest on the sentencing of a Montana man convicted of kidnapping and raping a four-year-old girl (all times local):

4:00 p.m.

A federal judge has sentenced a 22-year-old Montana man to almost 42 years in prison for kidnapping and violently raping a 4-year-old girl on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

Wednesday’s sentencing in U.S. District Court in Great Falls came in a case that prosecutors had described as every parent’s nightmare.

John William Lieba II of Wolf Point was accused of chasing down the young girl at night in a park, raping and strangling her and then leaving her for dead in an abandoned pickup truck in February 2016.

A jury convicted him on counts of kidnapping a minor, aggravated sexual abuse and assault resulting in serious bodily injury on a minor.

Judge Brian Morris sentenced Lieba to 500 months in prison on each count, to be served concurrently.

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12 a.m.

Prosecutors say a Montana man turned every parent’s nightmare into reality when he chased down a 4-year-old girl at night in a park, snatched her while a friend watched helplessly, then raped and left her for dead on an American Indian reservation.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office wants 22-year-old John William Lieba II sent to prison for life when he is sentenced Wednesday before a federal judge.

A jury convicted him of kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse of a child and assault resulting in serious injury in the February 2016 crime on the Fort Peck Indian reservation.

Defence attorneys say Lieba had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication prior to the kidnapping and could not remember the events. They requested a 30-year prison sentence.