Trial under way for man accused of sexual assault
A second day of testimony is expected to begin this morning in the trial of a Miller County, Ark., man accused of sexual misconduct with the daughter of a woman with whom he was once involved.
Jared Allen Harper, 34, is facing charges of rape, second-degree sexual assault and sexual indecency with a child involving a girl who was 11 when law enforcement became involved in 2015. Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Black told the jury of three women and eight men that the alleged victim in the case, now 15, has fought “tooth and nail to tell her story.”
Black said the alleged victim’s mother has been unsupportive of her daughter because the mother fears she will suffer financially if Harper is sentenced to prison and no longer able to pay child support for the two young boys they share. Black said the girl’s mother inspired her to recant the allegations by telling her the family will be forced to, “live in a sleazy motel where you will get raped every night.”
Texarkana defense lawyer Jason Horton argued that the allegations stemmed from the alleged victim’s and her older brother’s dislike of Harper and fear that their mother could lose their two younger half brothers in a custody dispute if the couple split. Horton described the alleged victim’s history of sexual abuse outcries, subsequent recantations and later reaffirmations of the sexual abuse as a, “tangled web of stories.”
Horton sketched out a time line of the case for the jury during his opening remarks. In March 2015 the alleged victim told her older brother she had been sexually abused by Harper. Eventually a report was made to law enforcement and the girl and her older brother were interviewed March 27, 2015, at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Texarkana. The girl described sexual abuse by Harper to a forensic interviewer at the CAC.
But in June 2015, Horton said the alleged victim had a change of heart. An investigator working for Horton interviewed and videotaped a recantation of the allegations June 10, 2015. During a second interview June 24, 2015, the girl continued to maintain that she had initially fabricated the allegations against Harper. Horton said the victim also wrote a threepage letter in November 2016 in which she claims she lied about Harper abusing her. In discussions with prosecutors, including during a meeting March 6, the alleged victim continued to accuse Harper of sexually abusing her repeatedly. In a final interview April 5 at the CAC, the girl confirmed her claims of abuse to a forensic interviewer, Horton said. Little Rock lawyer Jeff Rosenzweig is defending Harper as well.
Harper’s jury must determine if the girl is lying about being sexually abused by Harper because she wanted him out of her mother’s life or if she was manipulated by others, including her own mother, to recant because of financial and other concerns.
The first witness to take the stand Tuesday was the alleged victim’s older brother. The brother testified under questioning from Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell that he and Harper never had a good relationship in the roughly seven years Harper was romantically involved with his mother but that Harper seemed to get along well with his sister, the alleged victim. The brother said he thought it was odd that his sister took showers with Harper until she was about 10 years old.
The brother said his sister made him promise not to tell anyone when she disclosed to him that Harper had sexually abused her during a talk in the brother’s bedroom in March 2015. The brother said he eventually told his biological father’s brother and later his mother. Disclosure to a church pastor led to a report to the state’s child abuse hotline. Members of the clergy are mandated to report allegations of child maltreatment or face criminal charges.
If convicted, Harper faces up to six years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both, on the indecency charge. Second-degree sexual assault is punishable by five to 20 years, a fine up to $15,000, or both. Rape is punishable by 25 to 40 years or life in an Arkansas prison. Harper is free on a $50,000 bail bond.
Circuit Judge Brent Haltom instructed the jury to return to court this morning. The trial is expected to end Thursday or Friday.