Posted on 11/03/2015 9:32:39 PM PST by Graybeard58
BENTON -- A 7-year-old testified Monday in Scott County Circuit Court she remembered her father tricking her into a sexual act when she was 2 years old.
"I'm talking about Travis, yucky stuff," the victim told the prosecutor.
Travis Sintell Turner, 34, of Cape Girardeau is on trial, facing three charges of felony statutory sodomy.
The victim's mother testified the molestation occurred in February 2011, when Turner was alone with two children in the 700 block of Second Street in Scott City while the victim's mother was at work.
The victim told her mother about the incident on June 30, 2012.
The next day, the mother and her boyfriend talked to the victim, who told them her father requested a sexual favor in exchange for a drink.
The victim told assistant public defender Amanda Altman the molestation happened only one time.
The defense focused on differences among various versions of the story, at one point going through a large portion of a deposition the victim gave in 2013, when she was 5 years old.
The victim had trouble remembering what she had said previously, although her autistic brother said things at the time that tended to corroborate her story.
In rebuttal testimony, prosecutor Tabatha Blakely asked the victim whether the molestation actually occurred, and the victim responded definitively, "Yes."
Altman and co-counsel Travis Bargeon also asked the mother about certain details, including what kind of drink the victim received at the end of the sexual act and whether the victim mentioned the type of drink in the original statement.
"I didn't think the specifics of the drink would matter," the mother said.
Bargeon also asked about where the alleged molestation took place, based on a statement from the victim it had happened in a previous home and thus put the event in a two-week time window.
"This all started as a single sentence uttered by a 2-year-old girl," Bargeon said in his opening statements. "This story has evolved."
The trial continues at 8:30 a.m. today.
Forensic interviewer Kathy Blevins will testify for the prosecution, and her video interview with the victim will be shown.
Julie Buck will testify for the defense as an expert on childhood memory, although she will not address the victim's statement directly.
On the other hand, perhaps her memory is fine and she's telling the truth. A man's life rides on what the jury decides.
Funny thing it only happened once. Most sexual predators will continue time after time. Hard to believe it was a one time occurrence, if it is true.
A seven year old key witness = reasonable doubt.
Not necessarily , the doubt is it was a year and a half after the incident before she said anything and it was only one incident. Child predators are usually brazen and continue time after time.
I wonder if there’s any physical evidence to corroborate the child’s story. If not, I think I would find it difficult to convict the father. Small children have a tenuous grasp on reality and are very easy to manipulate. A relative with an axe to grind against the accused or even a well-meaning social worker could get a small child to say most anything. I also find it hard to believe that the child has a clear memory of something that supposedly happened when she was two years old.
Manipulative bitter ex-wife out to destroy her ex-husband; and an out-of-control prosecutor who knows there is no case counting on a jury to make an emotional decision to convict with absolutely no evidence. This shit happens all the time.
Not guilty.
I have memories of lying in a crib at night with a lightning pattern of light on the wall. If the event were sufficiently traumatic to the child, might two years old be old enough to retain it? Maybe a child psychologist would know.
A relative of mine says she could remember something from when she was 18 months old. I suppose it is possible, but not common. I think I can remember my baby brother coming home from hospital when I was 3 1/2 years old, but I am not sure if it is a memory or memory of my mom talking bout it repeatedly.
A two year-old would have expressed some sort of pain if molested at such an age, AT THE TIME IT HAPPENED.
This is nothing more than a false memory implanted by bitter ex-wife and prosecution psychologist who hates men.
Not true either. Sexual molestation does not necessarily mean intercourse or penetration.Could have been oral or just plain touching.
I remember seeing my parents’ Manchester Terrier, Suzie, run over in front of our house one day.
My mom says that’s impossible since I was not even 2 when it happened.
In fact, they never spoke of it or her so there were no “implanted” memories.
One day, years later, I started crying about her and that’s when they admitted it had even happened.
I vividly remember getting a pony for Christmas when I was 3.
The mind is a funny thing.
After the Manhattan Beach “recovered memory” witch hunts, I tend to agree with you.
I think I can remember my baby brother coming home from hospital when I was 3 1/2 years old, but I am not sure if it is a memory or memory of my mom talking bout it repeatedly.
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I have a memory of my older brother holding me while sitting in a rocker and feeding me my bottle. For most of my life I had thought I had been breast fed, so the memory couldn’t have been true but then a few years back, my mother told me that I was breast fed for about the first 6 months and then switched to the bottle and indeed, my older brother had occasionally fed me my bottle.
I was off breast and bottle by the time I was one year old. That puts the time period at 1945-1946.
My first memory that I am aware of is on my 3rd birthday and I’m running into my parents’ room. I also have another memory I suspect is from when I was 3, but I’m not positive. Then again, memories are tricky so I don’t know if I made them up.
I have trouble even remembering yesterday.
The show me state.
If an experience is traumatic enough, a glimpse in time can be remembered by a child as young as two. But everyone has different levels at which something is perceived as traumatic.
To this day I have a memory of standing in my crib crying in distress and nobody coming to help. It felt as if I were in a large closet and I can see the Holly Hobbie wallpaper and I’m looking at the door. Nobody came. My mother confirmed the wallpaper was accurate but said it wasn’t a closet, but a small bedroom right off of theirs. They must have followed the idea of “allowing your baby to cry itself to sleep.”
Remembers from age 2.
No.
Sounds like she has been coached and prompted.
Children can be very susceptible to outside influences.
Memory retention does not happen until maybe age 3 or 4 and those are spotty and, again, susceptible to outside influences.
Years later, it was proved that those children had been prompted and coaches and, most likely, the incidents that sent people to prison never happened.
Child advocates, mental health personnel, etc., know how susceptible children can be to suggestions, prompts, etc. Some not-so-ethical personnel do use tactics to sway legal or public opinion.
Old adage regarding marital problems: Children make good weapons.
a seven year old testifying of an ‘evolving’ event that happened when she was two? i’m not privy to all the info, but there sure seems to be enough reasonable doubt to drive a semi through. of course sometimes court decisions are more emotional than factual.
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