Jury can’t reach verdict in trial

A Miller County jury was unable to reach a verdict Monday following a single day of testimony in a child sex-abuse trial.

Carlos Alberto Garay, 39, is accused of two counts of second-degree sexual assault for alleged misconduct with a 15-year-old girl in March 2015. Garay, a family friend, allegedly touched the girl when she was spending the night with him, a 9-year-old boy and a girlfriend of Garay’s in a Texarkana, Ark., hotel room.

The jury deliberated for more than two hours before Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson declared a mistrial and dismissed the jury of seven men and five women shortly before 7 p.m. Johnson denied a request from Public Defender Matt Stephens for a bail reduction in the case and Garay remains in custody.

At trial the girl testified she thought it was strange and she felt uncomfortable when Garay insisted she share one of two queen-sized beds in the hotel room with him, under questioning from Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell. The girl said the others in the room were sleeping and in the bathroom when Garay reached over and touched her sexually in various ways.

The girl said she did not tell anyone of the abuse for a year because of concern for Garay’s 9-year-old son and fear of her mother’s reaction. Offers from Garay to spend another night with him when she neared her 16th birthday and trouble at home led the girl to reveal the alleged misconduct to an aunt, the girl testified.

Garay’s case is expected to be scheduled for a second trial before Johnson sometime this year. Garay’s jury was unaware of a prior conviction for a sex offense in Kansas involving a 15-year-old girl which Garay received when he was 18.

Second-degree sexual assault is punishable by five to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $15,000.

llarowe@texarkanagazette.com