The defense, prosecution and judge all agreed that seven months in jail was too harsh a sentence for a former fast food restaurant manager convicted of attempting to sexually abuse a 17-year-old employee.

In a pre-sentencing report, Adult Probation and Parole recommended a sentence of 210 days in jail, along with sex offender therapy. Lamoreaux will also have to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

No one disputed the therapy recommendation, but defense attorney Andrew McCullough said the jail sentence was inappropriate, considering Lamoreaux's lack of a criminal history, the relative seriousness of his crime and the fact that he has a wife and five children who are dependant on him.

"In this particular case ... he's not the only one who's going to be punished," McCullough said of Lamoreaux and his family. "I don't want to downplay the seriousness of this behavior, but on the other hand, I've seen a lot worse."

Deputy County Attorney Randy Kennard agreed, saying Lamoreaux's crime was serious but not as bad as many similar offenses. Kennard said the state could accomplish its goals at sentencing, such as having Lamoreaux be held accountable for his crime and ensuring that society is protected, without having Lamoreaux serve a lengthy jail sentence.

"I too realize that, given the nature of this offense, there probably is a disproportionate effect on his family than what is merited. His family is not at fault for what happened here," Kennard said.

Laycock said she thought the recommendation of seven months in jail was overly harsh for a man with no criminal history.

"It is offensive that this girl was subjected to the behaviors that she described, and I don't want to downplay that and I think it's fair that there be punishment involved here," she said. "But I also agree that I don't want to torpedo this family." Lamoreaux's victim did not attend the hearing, and no statements from her were read.

McCullough has filed a motion for a new trial in the case.

He said the prosecution inappropriately emphasized evidence that he did not have an opportunity to counter, and that turned out to be false.

During the trial, the jury saw a videotape of the victim's statements to police in which she said Lamoreaux told her that he was transferred out of another Fazoli's location because he had harassed young female employees there. Kennard cited that in his second closing argument in the case.

But after the trial, McCullough said he spoke to Lamoreaux's former supervisor and was told that Lamoreaux was transferred to a new store for different reasons.

"I think that the jury was in there deciding two separate cases, and the second one was a situation where we hadn't had the opportunity to defend ourselves. If we'd had an opportunity to bring the supervisor in, it would've all gone away," McCullough said.

By the time oral arguments on the motion are heard on Sept. 3, Lamoreaux's GPS monitoring sentence will be over. But McCullough said he wants the conviction overturned so Lamoreaux will not have a felony sex offense on his record, and especially so he will not have to register as a sex offender.

"He has to register as a sex offender for 10 years, and that's something that if we can possibly get that gone, I want to get it gone," McCullough said.

In March, a jury convicted Lamoreaux on one count of attempted forcible sexual abuse, a third-degree felony. A former teenage employee of a Provo Fazoli's restaurant testified that Lamoreaux, her manager, put his hands down the front of her pants several times and repeatedly asked to see her breasts while they were closing the store.

"The one thing that came out in trial here was she was mad, she was offended, insulted, but she never felt like she was in physical danger.

"She never felt like he was going to overpower her and hurt her," McCullough said. "I think that it came across that she wasn't in any physical danger."

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it