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By Elaine Porterfield
SEATTLE, May 16 (Reuters) – The father of Josh Powell, who
killed himself and his two young sons in a fiery blast at his
Washington state home in February, was found guilty of 14 counts
of voyeurism on Wednesday, a prosecutor said.
The charges against Steve Powell stemmed from electronic
images of young girls found in his bedroom during a search
linked to an investigation into the 2009 disappearance of his
son’s wife, Susan Powell.
Powell showed no reaction as the verdict was delivered in
Pierce County Superior Court, County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist
said. The jury of six men and six women deliberated for about a
day before reaching a verdict.
The standard maximum sentence for the conviction is four
years in prison, Lindquist said, but prosecutors were expected
to ask for a longer sentence due to what he called “aggravating
factors,” including the number of offenses.
Josh Powell had been considered a suspect in his wife’s
disappearance when he chopped at his two boys with a hatchet and
then blew up the family’s house in Graham, Washington. Susan
Powell is presumed dead, but her body has never been discovered.
(Writing By Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
