Suspect awaits verdict in child rape

No statute of limitations in 1990 case

John Joseph Sheehan made a legal miscalculation that could jeopardize his freedom in his golden years when he confessed to police to raping a 4-year-old neighbor 27 years ago.

He told cops when they confronted him last year that he wasn’t worried about being arrested because “it’s been way longer than seven years.”

“I heard that on the news,” Sheehan explained in court Thursday about his understanding of the statute of limitations for crimes other than murder.

But there is no time limit to file charges in a child sexual battery case, and the 76-year-old West Palm Beach man now awaits a jury verdict to see if he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

His now 31-year-old accuser first came forward at 21, after being haunted for years by memories of the attack, she told police. But her initial reporting in 2008 fell through the cracks

and wasn’t revived by detectives until early last year.

On Thursday, Sheehan walked back his confession on the witness stand, telling jurors his admissions to the cops were lies because of a desire to tell them what he thought they wanted to hear.

Sheehan was 49 at the time of the alleged offense. He’s now gray-haired and long retired from work as a security guard and time in the merchant marines.

He testified that he admitted the rape in multiple interviews with police because: he felt pressured to keep up the same lie; had memories of being raped by his father at age 8 growing up in New York City; and was feeling the effects of drugs he takes to treat lung disease.

“That could probably have interfered with my thinking,” he said of the medication, repeatedly denying he ever touched the girl beyond hugs while babysitting and watching cartoons with her on her bed inside a studio apartment in downtown West Palm Beach.

But prosecutor Brianna Coakley said Sheehan never challenged the woman’s claim during a phone conversation with her that was recorded by police in 2016.

“I’m 29 and I’ve lived through hell,” she told Sheehan. “This is the videotape that never stops.”

Coakley argued Sheehan’s courtroom excuses for his confession were not reasonable and justice was overdue.

“Find him guilty, it’s time,” she said

The South Florida Sun Sentinel is not identifying the woman due to the nature of the charge, called sexual battery on person less than 12 years of age.

She testified that she recalls Sheehan pulling her underwear down to her ankles, Sheehan getting on top of her and forcing sexual intercourse, while her baby brother was on a chair in the same room.

Assistant Public Defender Summer Barnes told the jury the credibility of the accuser was in doubt because of “major contradictions” in her statements to authorities before the trial.

“It is unreasonable to think she is being honest,” Barnes said of the inconsistencies concerning the alleged rape.

While testifying this week, the woman, who now lives in Utah, acknowledged she had offered different accounts since coming forward.

Coakley explained the investigation of the crime was delayed for eight years due to a mixup in the police department.

The prosecutor said the allegations and confessions were clear cut despite the delays.

Coakley asked the jury to keep in mind the woman didn’t report it until years later because “she was only four-years-old and at the time did not understand what was happening to her.”

But the defense attorney said Sheehan’s apology to the woman, on the same recorded phone call, was merely because he wanted to help give the woman closure over her feelings.

“He knows when he gives these statements he didn’t do this,” said Barnes, joined by Assistant Public Defender Nicolas Stebinger. “He doesn’t think he can get in trouble for something he had not done.”

Assistant State Attorney Takisha Richardson said the accuser is telling the truth about what happened to her.

“She can’t create a memory at age 31 that didn’t exist at age 4,” said Richardson, blasting Sheehan’s explanation about his confession.

“He admitted to everything he did,” the prosecutor said. “This happened. This is real. Listen to his words because they are resoundingly clear.”

After the lawyers presented closing arguments Thursday, Circuit Judge Edward Artau asked the jurors to start their deliberations at 9 a.m. today.

Sheehan