OWENSBORO, Ky. — A case that went cold for nearly three decades reached a legal conclusion Thursday when Robert Shelton, now 61, was sentenced in Daviess Circuit Court for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman in 1994. The victim, who spent years pushing for justice, appeared via Zoom to deliver a powerful statement about the lasting impact of the attack.
Shelton received a 10-year sentence in Daviess County after entering an “Alford plea” to kidnapping and sexual assault charges. He will serve that time concurrently, but the punishment comes on top of a 30-year sentence handed down in Spencer County, Ind., where he pleaded guilty to rape stemming from the same incident. Together, Shelton faces 40 years in prison.
An Alford plea allows a defendant to maintain innocence while acknowledging prosecutors likely have enough evidence to secure a conviction at trial…