Hatcher receives probation; ex-magistrate avoids jail

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

Former Blount County Magistrate Dustin Hatcher has been sentenced to 12 years of supervised probation on one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.

During a sentencing hearing Monday in Sevierville, Sevier County Circuit Court Judge Rex Henry Ogle extended the four-year maximum sentence that Hatcher had accepted in a plea agreement, according to Special Prosecutor Al Schmutzer Jr.

The charge stemmed from a November 2006 incident that took place in Hatcher's office at the Blount County Justice Center. Hatcher, then 25, allegedly called a 17-year-old girl into his office and coerced her into putting on lingerie and took pictures of her, including her bare breasts.

"It was my mistake, and I take responsibility for that," Hatcher said during the sentencing hearing. "The past two years have been a real growing experience for me. I'm very sorry to my family and friends and the juvenile involved. It's been really tough on everybody."

Special Prosecutor Al Schmutzer Jr., however, suggested that Hatcher still puts much of the blame on the girl.

"He's still not taking responsibility for his actions," he said. "As public officials in the judicial system, we're held to a higher standard."

Eligible for deferral

Hatcher will be eligible for judicial deferral at the end of the probation that will expunge the conviction from his record. By the terms of the plea agreement, Hatcher previously waived his right to appeal the sentencing.

"(Ogle) says as a judge he can extend that to the actual maximum of the crime itself -- up to 12 years," Schmutzer said. "Since there is no appeal, everybody is going to have to live with it. The victim's mother seem to be pleased with the outcome. It gives the boy an opportunity to get it off his record down the line, but it's not going to be three or four years. It's going to be 12 years from now."

In addition to the probation, Ogle sentenced Hatcher to 400 hours of community service, five months of monitoring with an electronic ankle band and ordered that his name be added to the sex offender registry.

Schmutzer said he was opposed to giving Hatcher the option of deferral.

"This changes it by stretching it to 12 years," Schmutzer said. "I think that's a good compromise."

On June 3, Hatcher pleaded guilty to the charge. If he eventually receives judicial deferral, it will remove the conviction from his record, but, in the interim, he will have to register with the state as a sex offender.

Resigned position

Hatcher, now 27, resigned from his post as magistrate -- a person who signs arrest warrants, approves some search warrants and sets bonds-- on Dec. 2, 2006. A civil suit filed against Hatcher and his father, Blount County Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher, Blount County and the clerk's office, was settled by the county on Jan. 10, 2007, for $45,000.

Hatcher apparently began a relationship with the girl when she appeared in Juvenile Court on an underage drinking charge. Serving as the magistrate in that court at the time, Hatcher told the girl and her mother he would see if he could do something to help her out of the charge. In the coming months, Hatcher and the girl apparently kept in contact.

"I did develop a romantic interest in her," said Hatcher, who was married at the time but has since divorced.

Ogle said he believes Hatcher's crime violated a public trust.

"There is absolutely no question in the court's mind that his position did put him in the place that this could happen," Ogle said. "It was something that was thought out. It was well thought out. The actions of this defendant are totally reprehensible.

"... I think the sentences for offenses at this level should include some incarceration. The General Assembly has decided alternative punishments should be used in these cases, though, and that's what I have to abide by."

Derek Hodges of The Mountain Press in Sevierville contributed to this report.