Lincoln man sentenced in sex abuse case

 A Lincoln man was sentenced Friday to 95 years in prison after being convicted in September of sexually abusing a child related to him.

Calhoun County Circuit Judge Bud Turner sentenced David Wayne Snelling to 75 years for his conviction on Sept. 23 of first-degree sodomy and to 20 years for sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.  Snelling must serve those sentences consecutively .

During the trial, jurors watched a videotaped deposition from the child and heard testimony from a worker at Calhoun/Cleburne Children’s Center. The worker said the child’s statements in the deposition matched what the victim told her about the abuse. The center is an advocacy group that interviews victims of abuse.

Snelling admitted to abusing the child to an investigator at the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, officials said, but he later testified at his trial that his admission was false.