NASHUA – Erik Callahan, the 21-year-old Nashua man charged last year with sexually and physically assaulting a former teenage girlfriend and possessing and disseminating pornographic images online, agreed to serve three years in State Prison in exchange for entering guilty pleas to some of the offenses.

Callahan entered the pleas Monday during an emotional hearing on the plea agreement, which his attorney, Anthony Naro, recently reached with prosecutors.

Former Assistant Attorney General John Harding, who recently became an assistant county attorney, was the prosecutor at Monday’s hearing, and under a capped-plea agreement, sought a stand-committed term of three and a half to seven years for Callahan.

Naro, meanwhile, recommended a sentence of three and a half to seven years in prison with one and a half years suspended, which would bring Callahan’s stand-committed time to two years.

In a capped-plea agreement, the defense and prosecution each recommend a sentence to the judge, who then determines the sentence the defendant will serve.

In this case, Judge Jacalyn Colburn, after weighing multiple factors and reviewing the lawyers’ arguments, sentenced Callahan to a minimum of three years in prison, six months less than Harding recommended and one year more than Naro recommended.

“I think two years is too little,” Colburn said, referring to Naro’s recommendation. “I believe three years is fair … I focused on the child abuse images and the violent assault” of one of the three victims who came forward with allegations against Callahan.

In all, the sentences Colburn handed down Monday include the three-year stand-committed term on two felony charges related to the dissemination of child abuse images; a three and a half-to-seven-year term, all suspended, on a second-degree assault count; 10 to 20 years in prison, all suspended for 20 years, on a count of distributing child-abuse images; and a term of 12 months in jail, to run concurrently with the stand-committed sentence, on a misdemeanor count of simple assault.

Other terms of the agreement prohibit Callahan from having any contact with the three victims; that he be evaluated for a sex-offender treatment program; and that he register with the state’s sex-offender registry.

Five members of Callahan’s family attended the hearing, while the mother of one of the victims and another woman sat on the prosecution side.

The mother of a second victim wasn’t in attendance, but provided a statement that Merrill Beauchamp, director of the County Attorney’s victim/witness advocate program, read in court.

“My daughter is the youngest of my three children, my baby, (who was) the victim of a terrible crime,” Beauchamp read. “Not terrible in the sense that you can see the damage. It’s much worse than that. The damage is deep within her heart … she couldn’t come today” because of her “feelings of rage toward a friend who turned into a monster,” Beauchamp read.

The once-bubbly and active girl “is now quiet. She looks sad. She is sad,” the woman wrote.

A second victim’s mother, who was present, said her daughter was a 16-year-old honor roll student “looking forward to a culinary and modeling career.

“Now she’s withdrawn, angry, fearful,” the mother continued. The girl “missed a whole year of school and is still in emotional distress,” in large part to the “severe concussion” and “migraines” she suffered during what prosecutors called a violent assault by Callahan.

The girl wasn’t present because “it would have been too overwhelming for her to be here today,” her mother said. “It’s been a devastating experience … (Callahan) has caused a lot of damage, and he really needs to be punished for it.”

Also addressing the court was Callahan’s mother, who described her son as “a very smart kid (who) struggled with self-control issues” in his school years.

Those struggles were compounded exponentially in 2014, when a then-16-year-old Callahan witnessed both his father and his uncle get shot to death in their Lowell, Massachusetts, home during a home invasion.

“That impacted Erik greatly. It’s only made things worse,” she said, growing emotional. “We will all continue to stand by him … he has a very strong support system,” she added.

Callahan also spoke briefly, apologizing to “my victims for my actions” and telling the court he’s had a lot of time “to reflect on what I was, and who I am now.”

In her sentencing remarks, Colburn praised the mother who was present for “the support you’re showing her … not having this go to a trial, I think, is an advantage for her.”

To Callahan, Colburn said she has “no doubt your family has been through a lot. The story about (Callahan’s father’s) death is an incredible, terrible tragedy … I can’t imagine how traumatic something like that must be for a family.”

That Callahan’s “treatment (and) therapy seems to be working,” Colburn said she needs for him “to be punished for what you’ve done, but I also want you to have hope, a light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.

Crediting Callahan for “taking steps in (the right) direction,” she reminded him “you have a long way to go.

“The best apology is to never let this happen again, and to prove to them that you can turn this around … and be a changed person,” Colburn said, referring to the victims and their families.

“You’re already showing progress. The best thing to do is to keep going,” she said.

“You have a lot of opportunity to get this right.”

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com, or @Telegraph_DeanS.

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