Utah man sentenced in sexual assault of 8-year-old girl

Daniela Mohor

Friday, Oct. 26, 2001 | 9:24 a.m.

A St. George, Utah, trucker accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl outside a Mesquite casino expressed remorse before being sentenced to life in prison Thursday.

"I realize ... a crime of this nature can destroy people's lives," Steven Dale Bingham said, wiping away tears. "I'm truly sorry."

Bingham, 53, avoided trial and the possibility of multiple life sentences by entering into a plea agreement in September. He will be eligible for parole after five years.

The state allowed Bingham to plead the equivalent of no contest to kidnapping, attempted lewdness and sexual assault.

The deal was struck after questions regarding the credibility of the prosecution's expert witnesses, who could have contested Bingham's claims that the crime occurred because of a psychotic reaction to Adderall, a drug used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder.

Deputy Public Defender Joseph Abood said Bingham, a reportedly religious family man with no criminal history, would never have raped the young girl in July 2000 if he had not been taking the drug.

Doctors who testified for the defense cited several examples of the drug causing users to suffer similar psychotic episodes. They cited three cases in which people accused of murder were acquitted or not prosecuted because doctors tied the drug to their actions.

Police believe that, after Bingham and his wife had dinner at the Oasis resort in Mesquite, Bingham walked to an arcade near the resort, where his victim was playing. He lured her outside by offering her money to help him unload groceries and sexually abused her in an isolated area near the freeway, police say.

Bingham has said he has little memory of that night. He said he only remembers doubling up on the drug after missing an earlier dosage, parking his car at the casino and washing his hands after dinner.

"I know it's very hard to understand that someone could do this kind of thing," Bingham told District Court Judge Jeffrey Sobel. "To be honest, I don't understand it myself."