LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An appellate court on Monday upheld a 41-year prison sentence given last year to a Clearlake man found guilty of molesting his young stepdaughter over a three-year period.

The First Appellate District Court of Appeals affirmed the sentence that Christopher Adam Sanders received from Judge Stephen Hedstrom in January 2012.

Sanders, who at one point was negotiating with the District Attorney's Office for a plea deal that would have given him significantly less prison time, was convicted by a jury in May 2011, as Lake County News has reported.

Sanders – who alleged that the girl, 11 when the molestation began, had initiated sexual contact with him – testified at trial, telling the jury that he made a false confession during a Clearlake Police interrogation.

The prosecution provided a recording of a pretext phone call in which Sanders asked the girl if she had told anyone about them. They also presented a jail telephone conversation between Sanders and his mother in which he accused the girl of coming after him sexually when she wanted something.

He was found guilty of one count of committing a lewd act with a child, two counts of lewd act with a child by duress, and one count each of continuous sexual abuse of a child and statutory rape.

The appellate court reviewed the case based on Sanders' allegations that the Lake County Superior Court erroneously imposed a booking fee and that it violated his right to counsel by denying his request for funding of a false confession expert.

The appellate court found that Sanders' complaint about the booking fee was unwarranted.

Regarding his allegation that his right to counsel was violated, the appellate court found that Sanders' claims that he was indigent – and so required the court to pay for an expert witness on false confessions – were inadequate.

“Further, even if defendant was indigent at the time of trial, his request failed to demonstrate the necessity for an expert witness on false confessions. His counsel's declaration stated only that he required an expert 'to properly evaluate defendant's claim that his confessions were coerced by law enforcement.' Counsel did not proffer any other explanation or justification for the expert or explain why cross-examination of the pertinent witnesses would not be effective,” the opinion stated.

The appellate court further pointed out that Sanders' confession was not the key evidence against him. Rather, the girl's testimony – which her mother and forensic evidence corroborated – was key.

Sanders, now 32, must serve 85 percent of his sentence before being released, according to the prosecution. He will be nearly 70 before he's released.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.