BELTON — Earlier this year, a jury convicted a Killeen man of molesting a prepubescent girl in 2009, but it was a judge who concluded the felony case by maxing out the sentencing range this week.

On Monday, Judge Steve Duskie, who presides over the 426th Judicial District Court, heard from the victim and her boyfriend as well as from the defendant, Wilfred ‘Wil’ Warren Sheppard, before pronouncing a sentence of 20 years in prison. It is the maximum punishment allowed under the Texas Penal Code for a second-degree felony conviction.

Sheppard’s defense attorney had argued that he deserved three years in prison while the state’s prosecutor emphasized the years that the victim, who now is a young woman, has waited for a resolution.

Sheppard, 59, initially was facing a maximum of life in pri

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