By Charles Wolfe
The Associated Press

LEXINGTON - A Nicholasville man charged with sexually assaulting a girl in a Boone County park was sentenced Monday to 75 years and 10 months in federal prison for downloading dozens of pornographic images of children. His wife, who was his accomplice, was sentenced to 30 years and five months.

U.S. District Judge Karl Forester granted a prosecution request for a harsh sentence against Terry Adkins, 26.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Adkins ordinarily would have faced a maximum sentence like that Forester imposed on co-defendant Jane Adkins- 365 months in prison.

U.S. Attorney Gregory Van Tatenhove said he believed Terry Adkins posed enough of a danger that Forester should make a "rare exception" and go well beyond sentencing guidelines.

"It's appropriate we send this strong signal," Van Tatenhove said in a news conference following the court session.

Both defendants, who were from Nicholasville, were convicted at bench trials in January of 99 counts each of receiving child pornography and one count each of possession of child pornography and conspiracy.

Their attorneys - Patrick Nash for Terry Adkins, Adele Brown for Jane Adkins - said they would appeal on multiple points.

Brown said one point of appeal was that cases from state courts were factors in the federal sentences.

Terry Adkins is charged with sexual abuse in Boone and Scott counties and kidnapping and sodomy in Jessamine County. Jane Adkins, 34, was charged in Scott County with complicity to commit sex abuse.

Boone County Commonwealth's Attorney Linda Tally Smith said she hasn't made a decision on whether to prosecute Terry Adkins for allegedly sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl last summer at Walton Community Park. Detectives say they caught Terry Adkins, accused of a rash of sex-abuse incidents in public parks and libraries, because of the description the Boone County girl gave to a police sketch artist. Terry Adkins' mother recognized a sketch drawn from the description when it was aired on a Lexington television station.

The prosecutors - Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Wohlander and Kayla Bakshi of the Justice Department's child exploitation unit - said the other cases showed a pattern of conduct, and it was appropriate for Forester to consider them.

There was evidence in the case that both defendants were victims of abuse themselves, and Van Tatenhove said he agreed "they have not led easy lives."

"One can certainly have a certain level of compassion," he said. But "there are a lot of excuses and a lot of reasons people find themselves making bad choices."

Enquirer reporter Jim Hannah contributed to this article.