Joseph “Chris” Iamurri

District Court Judge Bill Simpson said he’s seen people overcome difficult upbringings and “horrendous” abuse to become teachers, ministers and responsible members of the community.

“They have gone forward in life and helped people,” Simpson said, “and they have addressed their own concerns and their own pain and [made] sure that that pain is never inflicted on another human being.”

But Joseph “Chris” Iamurri “chose the opposite,” the judge said Tuesday.

The 43-year-old Cody resident was in the courtroom to be sentenced for first-degree sexual abuse of a minor — a felony count that stemmed from abuse Iamurri inflicted on an 8-year-old child in 2023.

During the nearly two-hour hearing, Iamurri’s defense attorney and family members highlighted the sexual abuse he’d suffered as a child in an effort to put his actions in context. But Simpson said the defendant’s traumatic past meant he should have been aware of how that abuse “can destroy and alter and ruin your life.”

While Iamurri needs treatment, “that help and treatment doesn’t do much good if you continue to portray yourself as a victim,” the judge said. “You’re not a victim, you’re a predator.”

He opted to impose the maximum 45- to 50-year prison sentence and $10,000 fine for Iamurri’s crime, along with ordering $426,000 in restitution to cover a lifetime of counseling for the victim.

The sentence was in-line with the wishes of the young girl’s mother and Park County prosecutors.

Arrested last year

Iamurri was arrested in early March 2023, after the girl disclosed the abuse to her mother, who told a school official, who notified authorities.

According to charging documents, the child reported that Iamurri had sexual contact with her “several times” in the preceding months and had shown her pornography.

Cody police officers took Iamurri into custody on March 3, 2023 and he’s remained in the Park County Detention Center since then.

“At the time of the arrest, all of the officers noted that [Iamurri] asked no questions as to the circumstances of the arrest, charges nor who the victim was,” Det. Rick Tillery wrote in an affidavit, saying it “became apparent” that Iamurri knew why he was being arrested.

Earlier this year, he agreed to plead guilty to the first-degree sexual abuse charge in exchange for three other felony counts being dismissed.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Iamurri said he’d fallen into temptation and “I don’t even know why.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself …,” he said, adding, “I truly regret my actions and I’m so sorry that everything I’ve put them through.”

Asking for the minimum

Iamurri’s court-appointed defense attorney, Travis Smith, asked Simpson to impose the minimum 25-year sentence for the offense. Smith noted that Iamurri had next-to-no prior criminal history, had accepted responsibility for his actions and argued the maximum would be out-of-line with similar cases.

Smith also pointed to the abuse that Iamurri suffered as a child.

“I think his history, his upbringing, while not an excuse, they put it [the crime] into context,” Smith said.

Both Iamurri’s mother and sister echoed that, saying their family had failed him.

“My brother will pay for his crime. And he will never forgive himself for what he’s done and the damage he’s caused,” said Iamurri’s sister, Annie Nugent. “He knows better than anyone how a crime like this can affect and change the course of your life forever.”

Nugent said Iamurri suffered all kinds of abuse that was swept under the rug.

“I believe that this situation, as tragic as it is for the victim, it’s the best thing to have happened to my brother: Finally, there’s no more hiding what happened,” she said.

Nugent said Iamurri needs help and therapy so there can be healing, asking for a sentence that would give Iamurri “some light to look forward to.”

“Please don’t throw my brother away,” she said.

Arguing for the max

However, Deputy Park County Attorney Jack Hatfield said imposing the 40- to 45-year-old sentence was “an easy decision for the court.”

“What he did to her [the victim] is disgusting, it is perverted, it is evil,” Hatfield said. “And that is exactly why Mr. Iamurri deserves the maximum sentence possible.”

He also said the alleged abuse that Iamurri suffered as a child actually hurt his argument.

“If he really did go through that, and he knew what that was like to have trauma like that, how could he do that to somebody else — especially an 8-year-old child?” Hatfield asked.

In a statement to the court, the child’s mother said Iamurri had “destroyed” the girl’s life.

“No one should have to go through what she went through,” the mother wrote.

Hatfield called on the court “to send a message to anybody else that’s like Mr. Iamurri that, if you do this to an 8-year-old, you are never getting out of prison until you are very old and gray.”

‘The pain never stops’

Simpson ultimately said he had “no choice, really” but to impose the maximum.

“Frankly, this is a crime that leaves scars that don’t heal. It leaves marks that don’t go away,” he said. “And it affects generations.”

The judge said there can be a ripple effect that “just goes on and on; the pain never stops.”

He ordered Iamurri to pay $426,000 to theoretically cover over 70 years’ worth of counseling sessions for the girl.

While relaying that his client was willing to pay restitution, Smith objected to the figure as too speculative and too high; the attorney indicated there’s no reasonable ability or probability that Iamurri can ever pay that amount.

The judge, however, suggested the resistance to the $426,000 figure undercut Iamurri’s apology.

“Frankly, I don’t think it’s enough,” Simpson said of the amount.

He did find that Iamurri is unable to afford a $1,500 charge for Smith’s services while acknowledging that the $10,000 fine was “more symbolic than realistic.”

With credit for good behavior, Hatfield estimated that Iamurri could theoretically be released at the age of 72.

Referring to that potential, Simpson told Iamurri that “you will have some future. But unfortunately, you’ve taken that future away from the 8-year-old-child.”