Posted 10:22 am Friday, November 30, 2012
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UPDATE: Jury to decide Inks' fate in sexual assault case
Update: Friday, Nov. 30, 10:17 a.m.
A Smith County jury is currently deciding the innocence or guilt of Russel Inks III, 45, accused of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors rested their case Thursday against a Whitehouse man accused of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old child in March 2010.
Russel Wayne Inks III, 45, faces up to life in prison if convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
The fourth-grade girl testified in the Smith County 241st District Court on Wednesday that Inks asked her to sit on his lap so they could play a computer game. When she did so, Inks allegedly touched her “in her wrong spot,” the child told the jury. She drew circles around the area on an anatomical diagram, which was shown to the jury.
Jurors, on Thursday, saw two DVDs, one from March and one from April, in which the child victim spoke to forensic interviewer Becky Cunio of the Children's Advocacy Center of Smith County. In the March interview, the then-6-year-old girl said no one had ever touched her inappropriately.
On the DVD, the child answered questions from Ms. Cunio and correctly identified some body parts on a diagram Ms. Cunio showed to her. But the child shook her head “no” when the interviewer asked if the girl had been told by anyone to keep secrets or if anything bad had ever happened to her.
“She could label all of the body parts except the female anatomy — she answered questions until asked about the female anatomy. She was clearly uncomfortable,” Ms Cunio said about the child's interview.
Russel Wayne Inks III, 45, faces up to life in prison if convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
The fourth-grade girl testified in the Smith County 241st District Court on Wednesday that Inks asked her to sit on his lap so they could play a computer game. When she did so, Inks allegedly touched her “in her wrong spot,” the child told the jury. She drew circles around the area on an anatomical diagram, which was shown to the jury.
Jurors, on Thursday, saw two DVDs, one from March and one from April, in which the child victim spoke to forensic interviewer Becky Cunio of the Children's Advocacy Center of Smith County. In the March interview, the then-6-year-old girl said no one had ever touched her inappropriately.
On the DVD, the child answered questions from Ms. Cunio and correctly identified some body parts on a diagram Ms. Cunio showed to her. But the child shook her head “no” when the interviewer asked if the girl had been told by anyone to keep secrets or if anything bad had ever happened to her.
“She could label all of the body parts except the female anatomy — she answered questions until asked about the female anatomy. She was clearly uncomfortable,” Ms Cunio said about the child's interview.
But in the April interview, the child told Ms. Cunio the details of how Inks had allegedly touched her. “My mama told me to tell you he took his finger and put it in my pants,” the child said on the DVD the jury watched.
As the DVD played, the girl said she could not remember Inks' name, but she described him physically, saying, “He is bald and has some brown hair here,” pointing to the side of her head for Ms. Cunio.
The child said she sat on Inks' lap because there was only one chair in the room. The girl said Inks' son, who was close in age to herself, was playing with a remote control toy car in the same room at the time the abuse allegedly occurred.
Defense attorney Brett Harrison said he had no questions for Ms. Cunio. On Wednesday, the defense questioned the child about the fact that she said in her first forensic interview that nothing had happened to her, but in her second interview, the girl said that her mother told her to talk about the abuse and what happened.
The defense was expected to begin presenting its case Thursday afternoon.
As the DVD played, the girl said she could not remember Inks' name, but she described him physically, saying, “He is bald and has some brown hair here,” pointing to the side of her head for Ms. Cunio.
The child said she sat on Inks' lap because there was only one chair in the room. The girl said Inks' son, who was close in age to herself, was playing with a remote control toy car in the same room at the time the abuse allegedly occurred.
Defense attorney Brett Harrison said he had no questions for Ms. Cunio. On Wednesday, the defense questioned the child about the fact that she said in her first forensic interview that nothing had happened to her, but in her second interview, the girl said that her mother told her to talk about the abuse and what happened.
The defense was expected to begin presenting its case Thursday afternoon.
