A Benton man who pleaded guilty to exposing himself to young girls for sexual gratification in Little Rock's Hillcrest neighborhood was sentenced to a year in prison Friday.
Brandon Charles Runion's attorney had requested probation, asking Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson to consider how the 36-year-old defendant had been using his skills as an independent filmmaker to address important social issues in the community.
Johnson also ordered Runion to serve a five-year suspended sentence after he's released from prison, warning Runion that he'd face more prison time if he gets in trouble with the law after getting out of prison.
Runion pleaded guilty as charged in February to three counts of sexual indecency with a child. He was arrested in September 2012 after a monthlong police investigation that concluded after police witnessed him exposing himself to a 14-year-old girl on Little Rock's Evergreen Drive. A police officer had to pull his gun to take Runion into custody.
According to police testimony, officers tracked Runion with an electronic monitoring device as he drove his blue Jeep Patriot through the Hillcrest neighborhood around schools -- Mount St. Mary Academy, Holy Souls Elementary, Forest Heights Middle School and Pulaski Heights Elementary.
Prosecutors had asked for the maximum sentence, 18 years in prison. Among other things, they cited Runion's previous felony conviction for the attempted kidnapping of an 18-year-old high school senior at McCain Mall in North Little Rock in 2005 and evidence that he'd fathered a child with a girl he'd seduced when she was 16 after meeting her in church.
At Friday's sentencing hearing, defense attorney Lou Marczuk also asked the judge to weigh the "stigma" that having to register as a sex offender would have on the rest of Runion's life.
"He will be known his whole life as the blue Jeep exhibitionist," Marczuk told the judge. "He will have to fight his whole life just to keep a job. Everyone will know what he has done."
In prison, Runion would be a target for other inmates because of his conviction, Marczuk said. Runion could "do good work" if the judge punished him with probation and a substantial fine, Marczuk said.
The attorney also asked the judge to reject sinister insinuations from prosecutors about Runion making movies under an assumed name, Brody Chaze. Hollywood has a long tradition of actors taking on new names, like Rock Hudson, Cary Grant and John Wayne, Marczuk said.
Runion did not address the court at the hearing, but in a letter to the judge stated that he was getting counseling from a pastor. He stated that he has been able to impact the community in positive ways through his work as a videographer and that he's produced and directed between eight and 10 movies, several of which have won awards.
"I hope to continue working among my peers and in the community making a positive impact on people," he wrote. "I have a strong support system of peers and people in the community, including pastors, teachers and professionals in the film industry."
Endorsing Runion's work in the film industry were Ken Gollat, who said he's worked on numerous projects with Runion, who he said was like a brother to him; Tiffany Vinyard, a secretary for the Little Rock Police Department; and cosmetologist Denai Wormley.
Both Runion's mother, Nancy Runion, and longtime family friend Eleanor McMillan of Hot Springs described him as a compassionate, hardworking man devoted to his family, and said they have never seen the side of him that would be involved in sex crimes.
The judge reviewed a short presentation of trailers and clips from Runion's movie and commercial work.
Deputy prosecutor Jeanna Sherrill, who asked for substantial prison time for Runion, pointed to the darker themes in Runion's movies, including abduction and murder.
The three girls to whom Runion had exposed himself attended Friday's proceedings but chose not to testify, Sherrill said. She asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence of six years on each charge, and stack those sentences.
"There's three victims, and each deserves their own justice," Sherrill told the judge.
Sherrill said there's reason to believe Runion had been exposing himself to women since at least 2003, saying he showed a pattern of driving a car with the license plate removed and covered his face, either with a hood, a mask or a scarf.
To support that accusation, Sherrill presented testimony that Runion had admitted in January 2003 to police investigating complaints about indecent exposure at Wild River Country water park in North Little Rock, but disputed that anyone could have seen him.
Metro on 07/02/2016