Font ResizeProvo » A 24-year-old former Payson High School assistant softball coach was sentenced Tuesday to 120 days in jail and two years of probation for having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl on the team.
McKell Shurtliff had pleaded guilty in 4th District Court to one count of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail.
Shurtliff was initially charged with three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a third-degree felony. Prosecutor Tim Taylor said the victim and her parents supported the plea deal.
Shurtliff must pay a $740 fine, complete sex-offender treatment and will be on the state sex-offender registry for 10 years.
Taylor had asked for 30 days jail time, but Judge Fred Howard quadrupled that, calling the crime "very disturbing" and noting that Shurtliff occupied a position of special trust in relation to the girl.
Payson police have said the sexual relationship began in March 2008, when Shurtliff performed oral sex on the girl. Police said there were four more sexual encounters during the following three months.
Police investigated last November after the two were found together in a car, but the girl denied anything illegal was occurring. Charges were filed in May, after the girl told her parents she wanted to clear things up so she could be baptized in the LDS Church.
Shurtliff's defense
Kester said the relationship started because both the girl and Shurtliff had been going through emotional trauma. "These two came together to comfort one another," he said.
