Tunnel Hill man sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for aggravated sodomy, incest

Published 7:25 pm Friday, December 1, 2017

A Tunnel Hill man was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole Friday by Whitfield County Superior Court Judge Cindy Morris, a day after being convicted of incest and aggravated sodomy, according to District Attorney Bert Poston.

James Bradley Bearden, 50, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of incest, two counts of aggravated sodomy and four counts of sexual battery. The four counts of sexual battery are misdemeanors.

Poston said Bearden was sentenced to life without parole on each of the aggravated sodomy charges. Those sentences are consecutive. He was sentenced to 29 years in prison without parole followed by one year of probation on one of the incest charges, also consecutive. The second count of incest was merged for sentencing purposes. Poston said that sentence is required by statute. Bearden was sentenced to 12 months on each of the sexual battery charges. They will be served concurrently.

Poston said Bearden had multiple prior felony convictions, including two from Georgia and several from other states including sexual assault with intent to rape in Alabama. Poston said Morris ruled four of those convictions — two from Georgia and two from other states — were admissible for sentencing purposes.

Poston said that three felony convictions triggered a requirement that Bearden be sentenced to life without parole for the aggravated sodomy and incest convictions.

The crimes Bearden was sentenced for occurred during a four-month period in 2016, and the victim was 16 at the time.

Bearden was represented by Cat Pyne and Micah Gates of the Public Defender’s Office. A message for Gates was not immediately returned Friday afternoon.