'Extremely dangerous' father sentenced to 75 years for sexually abusing his daughter, who then died in a fire

Stephen Gruber-Miller | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Girls' grandmother describes night of deadly fire Shirley Exline, grandmother to Shakiah Cockerham and Paige Exline, talks about the fire that killed the two girls in Guthrie Center.

JEFFERSON, Ia. — An Iowa father was sentenced Monday to 75 years in prison for sexually assaulting his daughter, who died months later in a house fire that authorities believe was intentionally set.

James Hubert Exline Jr., 47, received his sentence Monday morning at the Greene County Courthouse in Jefferson. The sentence includes 50 years for a second-degree sexual abuse charge and 25 years for a charge of third-degree sexual abuse.

"This was not an isolated incident. It happened over a period of time. You were already a convicted sex offender on lifetime parole," District Court Judge James Drew said to Exline. "And even more troubling is the fact that you did this to your own daughter."

Exline must serve a minimum of 85 percent of each sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He is required to register for life as a sex offender.

Exline's attorney, Daniel Gonnerman, argued the sentences for the two crimes should be served concurrently and that even then "he may not live to see the end of that sentence."

But Drew agreed with prosecutors who said the sentences should run consecutively. In handing down the sentence, Drew said he considers Exline to be "extremely dangerous."

Drew said Exline learned that his son, 19-year-old Noah Exline, was sexually abusing 12-year-old Paige Exline. But after James Exline put a stop to the abuse by Noah, he began abusing his daughter himself.

Paige Exline and her cousin, 16-year-old Shakiah Cockerham, were killed in a May 15, 2017, house fire that also injured their uncle and grandmother in Guthrie Center. Authorities believe the fire was intentional and Paige's 27-year-old stepbrother, Patrick Ryan Thompson, faces arson and murder charges.

Exline declined to speak at the sentencing.

No victim impact statements were read at the sentencing. James Exline committed the abuse and prosecutors said the girl's mother "completely supported her father throughout this," so only the state was left to speak for Paige.

Much of Exline's trial depended on statements about the abuse that Paige told to other people before her death, said Assistant Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn. Some of those statements were the subject of a motion for a new trial by Exline, which the judge denied.

"We had to let other individuals, witnesses to speak for her, to allow the state to speak for her, to give her a voice, that the story she told so many people before her death would not be lost or silenced," Laehn said.

Assistant Iowa Attorney General Denise Timmins said Exline has shown he does not deserve any more second chances.

"The defendant has had his chance. He is a two-time convicted sex offender. He was going through sex offender treatment and he was on lifetime parole and still chose to commit these acts against his own daughter," Timmins said at sentencing.

Prosecutors twice failed to convict Exline at trial before obtaining a guilty verdict in June. His case resulted in two previous mistrials in October and May.

In Exline's first mistrial, some people in the jury pool had been seeking information about the case online, violating rules for prospective jurors, WHO-TV reported at the time.

A judge granted the second mistrial based on certain testimony given by a witness for the prosecution, according to court documents. The testimony violated a pretrial order and the judge found it to be "extremely prejudicial" in nature.

Patrick Ryan Thompson, Paige's stepbrother, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of arson in relation to the fire.

Court records detailing Thompson's murder charges show that investigators obtained his cellphone records, which revealed text messages about killing, sent about a month before the fatal fire.

In an April 16, 2017, text conversation with his mother, Thompson wrote, "Yeah it's the killing that entices me sounds so good sometimes," and "Kill all the b------ with their head games," the records showed.

Before the fire, Noah Exline, 19, of Jefferson was charged with seven counts of felony sex abuse against Paige, his sister. Noah Exline is Thompson's stepbrother and roommate.