Part of Howland sex offender's charges removed by Appeals Court, defendant to be resentenced

Trent Addicott

After a successful appeal to the 11th District Court of Appeals a Howland sex-offender will have several counts removed from his sentence and be resentenced for the remainder of his crimes.

On August 27 of 2024 Trent Addicott was found guilty and sentenced to 24-28 years in prison for four counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, two counts of pandering obscenity to minors, all second-degree felonies and five misdemeanor charges of sexual misconduct with an animal.

Addicott's lawyers then began the process of appealing the case for the wrongful introduction of hearsay evidence during the trial. 

11th Court District judges, John J. Eklund, Matt Lynch and Scott Lynch agreed with the appeal.

"Appellant's arguments that three CyberTipline Reports and related testimony violated his confrontation rights have some merit … the CyberTipline reports were not properly admitted as business records, and we cannot determine that the records were nontestimonial," Eklund wrote.

This means the evidence was not properly categorized and not proven to be unbiased. 

This decision results in the removal of Addicott's four counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, but it does not mean he will walk free. 

"This appellate decision does not disturb the remaining seven counts. This decision also does not disturb the defendant's prison sentence of 16 to 20 years on those remaining counts," says Prosecuting Attorney Dennis Watkins.

"We believe that this defendant is a danger to children and animals alike. Consequently, we intend to retry this case and will continue to seek a sentence that we believe to be appropriate and commensurate with this defendant's egregious and revolting actions," says Watkins.

After his initial sentencing Addicott was labeled a Tier 2 sex offender meaning after his release he will have to report to the local sheriff's office twice per year for 25 years and be placed on the sex offender registry.