WARREN — The former mayor of Hubbard was visibly shaking Monday as he received life in prison in the child sex assault case involving a girl under 7 years old.

Richard Keenan, 66, appeared before Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter J. Kontos, who also labeled Keenan a Tier III sex offender, which means if he is released, he will have to register his address with the sheriff’s office in the county of his residence every 90 days for life.

Keenan will be eligible for parole after serving 10 full years in prison, but Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Gabriel Wildman said his office has a history of opposing parole.

“I am sure we will do so in this case,” Wildman said after sentencing.

Kontos said in pronouncing the sentence that Keenan’s acts were “despicably inhuman.” The judge mentioned he received a number of letters of support for the former mayor.

“But the thing that stands out is that they were written before your guilty plea,” Kontos said. “In sentencing, I don’t look at the other things that you have done, I look at the thing that you have been charged with.”

Keenan on March 17 pleaded guilty to eight counts of rape, four counts of attempted rape and eight counts of gross sexual imposition. The victim, a young girl known to Keenan, was assaulted from Sept. 12, 2013, when she was 4, through June 21, 2016, according to the indictment.

The former public servant who served as Hubbard mayor from Jan. 5, 2010, until Dec. 31, 2011, said he was sorry for his actions.

“I apologize to everybody whom I have hurt and pray that they would have peace,” Keenan said prior to sentencing.

A shaken Keenan was given a seat to listen to a statement written by the girl’s mother and read aloud in the courtroom by Wildman.

“Mental illness did not cause this, past drug use did not cause this, your own health problems did not cause this,” according to the statement. “You did this and it was a choice you made which took the innocence of a little girl.”

But the mother in her statement said Keenan chose the wrong little girl to try to break.

“That little girl was able to do what so many other young children struggle to do, and that is to be fearless and have the courage to stand up against her abuser,” Wildman read.

The mother said she continues to struggle, saying she has contemplated suicide.

“I don’t sleep at night because I am always anxious about the nightmares I know I will have,” the mother wrote. “I can’t remember simple tasks and find my mind completely shuts down at times.”

Keenan’s attorney, J. Gerald Ingram, told the judge his client has been in ill health, battling prostate cancer. He said Keenan has a long history of public service.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com