Pike County man convicted of sodomy four years after charges
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (WYMT) - A man in Pike County, who was already a registered sex offender, was recently convicted of sodomy on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
In 2018, 39-year-old Joshua Hubbard of Pinsonfork was accused of committing sexual assault on 15-year-old Spencer Hensley after luring him into his home.
“He got me pretty drunk, and he split me and my brother up, and I stayed with him,” said Hensley. “He thought I was passed out drunk, but woke up to him doing some stuff to me and I had to get out there.”
Four years later, Hensley is now 19-years-old and says that night changed his life and he is happy that Hubbard is behind bars.
“The scars are permanent, but I would take the scars for another kid,” said Hensley. “What really made this all feel better for me is waking up and not having to see on the news where it happens somebody else.”
The jury in Hubbard’s trial suggested the maximum sentence of 10 years and prosecutors have since been receiving calls from community members.
“The jury recommended the maximum sentence of 10 years because he was a persistent felony offender,” said Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Melissa Goodman. “I’ve had families from the Belfry area reach out to me, strangers reach out to me, and thanking me for getting him off the streets because he was a constant worry in the community.”
Goodman said they have also received a bit of backlash because it has taken so long to convict Hubbard, but the pandemic and other factors played a major role in the delays.
“It takes at least a year to get the DNA evidence back, then we had the pandemic which basically closed down the court system for a year and a half,” said Goodman. “Mr. Hubbard changed attorneys, he went through three attorneys, we lost a judge, Judge Combs, and then the case was ultimately transferred over to Judge Coleman, so it just took a while for all the pieces to fall into place.”
Hubbard’s attorney, Ned Pillersdorf, says the defense does plan to appeal the conviction following the sentencing date of April 29th.
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