By Dan Morse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 16, 2007

A Lusby man was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison, the maximum penalty, after pleading guilty to second-degree sexual assault of a 4-year-old girl.

Going beyond guidelines calling for a sentence of five to 10 years, Calvert Circuit Judge Warren J. Krug agreed with prosecutors that the actions of Kyle Everett Guier, 20, were especially egregious, particularly in light of the victim's age.

"His whole attitude was this was everyone's fault but mine," Calvert County's state's attorney Laura L. Martin (R) said of Guier. "He clearly wasn't remorseful."

Guier's attorney said she will seek a full review of the sentence.

On the morning of May 3, according to court records and authorities, the 4-year-old was dropped off at a babysitter's house, but the babysitter was still asleep. The child's parents knew Guier, who was at the home, and Guier agreed to take the child to her school bus, Martin said.

When he was alone with the child, Guier took her to a back bedroom, removed the child's pants and underwear, and was about to perform a sex act, Martin said. However, he was interrupted when the babysitter awoke and entered the room, authorities said. Guier fled, wrapped in a blanket, according to investigators.

Calvert sheriff's deputies found him on the street, Martin said.

Guier originally faced two charges: attempted second-degree sex offense and sex abuse of a minor. In August, he pleaded guilty to the sex offense count, and the sex abuse charge was dropped.

During his sentencing hearing Friday, Guier asserted that the girl's parents should not have left the child with him because he was under a lot of stress, according to Martin, who added that the victim continues to suffer from night terrors because of the incident.

In addition to the prison time, Guier's sentence requires him to comply with state sex offender laws -- meaning that he must submit a DNA sample to the state database and, upon release from state custody, register as a child sex offender, according to the state's attorney's office.

Court records show that Guier previously had been convicted of burglary, stemming from an August 2006 incident, and had been found guilty of marijuana possession, in connection with a June 2006 incident.