Last Frontier News

(Sitka, AK) –On June 8, 2023, Retired Superior Court Judge Michael McConahy sentenced 79-year-old Richard McGrath to 17 years with 15 years suspended for the 2019 sexual assaults of three women in Sitka.

Dr. McGrath was sentenced pursuant to a plea agreement to one count of sexual assault in the third degree. The court declined to find “manifest injustice” that his sentence should be reduced based on diagnoses of cognitive decline and dementia.

In 2018, in separate incidences, Dr. McGrath engaged in sexual contact with the three women who Dr. McGrath knew were unaware that a sexual act was being committed.

McGrath admitted, and Judge McConahy found, that an aggravating factor applied to McGrath’s case because it was the most serious within the class of offense.

Each of the three victims spoke to the court during the proceeding. Each relayed their desire for the case to come to resolution and the difficulty that delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a failed attempt at a trial in Summer 2022 when not enough jurors appeared to empanel a jury. Each woman also relayed her experience to the court and the severe impact McGrath’s actions had upon them. One woman stated “Rather than fulfilling his oath and the special trust placed in him as a medical doctor, he caused me greater harm and suffering, using me as an object for his own gratification. There are certain positions in society that are afforded and deserve special trust and confidence. Medical doctors, clergy, law enforcement, nurses, among others, are people we are brought up to trust and to believe have our best interests at heart. When one of them uses that position of special trust to willfully inflict abuse and suffering upon those who are coming to them for help, the magnitude of the crime is all the greater. The trauma is compounded even beyond the criminality of the act by the violation of the sacred position of trust,” the woman said. The victims expressed their difficulty trusting medical providers going forward and the severe impact this case has had on each of them. The victims assented to the agreement and expressed their sincere desire for the process to end so that they each may fully engage in the healing process.

Prosecutor Bailey Woolfstead urged the court not to mitigate McGrath’s sentence. She noted McGrath’s mental decline was taken into account during negotiations and asked the court to accept the agreement, focusing on the number of victims, the seriousness of his behavior including, the need to isolate and deter him and others from engaging in sexually assaultive behavior, and the violation of the most sacred oath doctors take – to do no harm. Woolfstead praised all three victims for the strength they showed in coming forward and the fortitude they displayed through the last four years of litigation and noted that throughout the life of the case, each woman made the journey from victim to survivor.

McGrath appeared via video from Goose Creek Correctional Center and chose not to speak.

In handing down the sentence, Judge McConahy noted that McGrath was in a position of power and betrayed each woman for “prurient selfish interests.” He further stated, “He chose vulnerable victims and made them more vulnerable.” Judge McConahy recognized the significant impact this case had on each victim and emphasized the importance of the agreement for McGrath to surrender his medical license permanently. Judge McConahy recognized McGrath’s prognosis as a collateral consequence to be taken into account in sentencing.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Bailey Woolfstead of the Office of Special Prosecutions Rural Prosecution UnitBailey.Woolfstead@alaska.gov

Original source can be found here