WEATHERFORD — A Texas man who abducted his former neighbor and tortured the woman while holding her captive for nearly two weeks was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
Jurors found Jeffrey Allan Maxwell, 59, guilty of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of aggravated sexual assault one day earlier after deliberating for less than one hour.
Maxwell received three life sentences on Wednesday, and then the judge in the case "stacked" two of them, meaning he will not be eligible for parole until he is 119 years old.
Throughout the trial, WFAA has not identified his victim because she was sexually brutalized for 12 days. After the trial, however, Lois Pearson said she wanted to be identified to publicly thank God for her deliverance and to make a statement of her faith.
"He answered my prayers and spared my life," Pearson said. "That man was going to kill me; he had no choice but to kill me, because I could identify him and he didn't want to go to prison."
Pearson said the sentence imposed on Maxwell gives the 63-year-old woman some satisfaction. "I feel very relieved, because that was one of my worries — that he would come after me and try to kill me if he ever gets out," she said. "It's a miracle that I'm alive."
Pearson added that she is trying to forgive her captor, who also burned her house to the ground.
"Because that is the way that our religious faith teaches that. If I don't forgive him, I will go to hell. My religious faith teaches that, and I certainly don't want to go to hell over not forgiving that man."
One could argue that Lois Pearson has been close enough to hell already.
Prosecutors presented six witnesses during the punishment phase of Maxwell's trial — two of them said Maxwell molested them as little girls.
Defense attorneys said they couldn't find anyone to step forward to testify for Jeffrey Maxwell, including the accused man himself.
E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com
