Movie and television actor Scott Bairstow was sentenced to four months in the Snohomish County Jail Friday on a charge of second-degree assault with the intent to commit child molestation.
The felony is not considered a sex crime, although the actor earlier had been charged with second-degree child rape for allegedly having sex with a 12-year-old girl four years ago when Bairstow, 33, lived in Mukilteo.
He could have been sentenced to more than eight years in prison had the Los Angeles actor been convicted of child rape.
The assault conviction carried only a standard range of between three and six months in jail.
Bairstow began serving his term Dec. 5 when he pleaded guilty. Mark Mestel, one of his lawyers, said the actor only has 37 more days to serve with time off for good behavior.
He appeared in Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese’s courtroom dressed in blue jail garb and shackled arm and foot. Two jail custodial officers escorted him.
Bairstow has been serving time in the jail’s general population, Mestel said.
Bairstow apologized to the victim, a relative of his ex-wife, and her family.
"I did not rape her, but I did cause anxiety and stress. For that I’m sorry," Bairstow told the court.
The sex case fell apart when the victim couldn’t undergo interviews by attorneys prior to Bairstow’s scheduled December trial date. Her doctor said the girl wouldn’t be able to go through a trial, and deputy prosecutor Janice Albert said she was emotionally fragile.
The state’s chief evidence was a secretly recorded tape of a telephone conversation between the girl and Bairstow after the girl told her parents about sexual contact between her and the actor.
On the tape, Bairstow asks her not to tell anyone about something "because I would be thrown in jail for 10 years."
She told investigators they had sex in Snohomish County once and several other times in other locations, court documents say.
When he pleaded guilty, Bairstow maintained his innocence, but said he wanted to take advantage of a plea agreement with the prosecutor because a jury might convict him.
Albert asked the judge to impose a six-month sentence and to require Bairstow to undergo an evaluation for sexual deviancy.
California attorney Mitchell Egers argued that it would do no good to keep Bairstow in jail any longer, and he should be released as soon as possible. Further confinement would damage his acting career, and his mother in Canada has terminal cancer, Egers argued.
"Out of sight, out of mind has never been more true than in the entertainment industry," Egers told the judge.
Krese said Bairstow deserves some consideration because he has no previous criminal convictions. She imposed the four-month sentence plus a year of community supervision when he’s released.
He also will have to be evaluated for sexual deviancy and undergo treatment if necessary. Egers tried to head off the evaluation by getting a California expert to examine Bairstow and report that he had no deviancy.
"It’s not necessary," Egers said. "Everybody said he has no problems."
His community supervision likely will be shifted to California corrections officials.
The actor has appeared in numerous television series, such as "Party of Five" and movies, including "Tuck Everlasting."
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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