Man accused of sexual assault wants court to order alleged victim to hand over her phone
A man required to register as a sex offender wants a judge to order the alleged victim in a Bowie County sexual assault case pending against him to turn her cellphone over to the defense.
Donald Mack Tussey
Jr., 52, is required to register as a sex offender because of an Alabama conviction for assaulting a woman at knifepoint in 1992, according to a probable cause affidavit. Tussey’s aggravated sexual assault charge in
Bowie County includes allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman at knifepoint at his home on the night of Nov. 7.
Tussey’s lawyer, Bart Craytor of Texarkana, filed a motion recently asking 202nd District Judge John Tidwell to order the alleged victim to turn over her cellphone so that a forensic expert working for the defense can examine it. At a pretrial hearing Monday, First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp said the state opposes the motion and requests a hearing to argue the issue before the court makes a ruling.
The motion alleges that the alleged victim’s phone could contain information that would be helpful to the defense. The motion asks for a subpoena for the alleged victim’s cellphone provider requiring it to turn over all “text messages, SMS, telephone call logs, etc., from Oct. 30, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2018.”
The motion also asks that the alleged
victim’s cellphone provider be required to give the defense cell tower-location information for the woman’s phone from Nov. 6 to Nov. 8.
The woman reportedly knew Tussey because he was a friend of her husband.
The woman told investigators that Tussey offered to pay her $500 if she would pose for four photographs to be used in a calendar. The woman reported that she went to Tussey’s home in the 800 block of Patton Street in Leary, Texas, at about 9 p.m. Nov. 7.
The woman told investigators that Tussey photographed her but did not pay her the full amount of what he agreed. Later that night, at about 11:30 p.m., Tussey allegedly called the woman and told her he had more money for her. The woman reported that she went to Tussey’s home with friends who waited for her outside Tussey’s home in their car.
The woman said that when she went into Tussey’s home, he was smoking methamphetamine and drinking. Tussey allegedly offered to give the woman more money, a welder and an air compressor if she would engage in sexual activity with him. The woman said she declined, pointing out that she was married.
Tussey allegedly became angry, grabbed the woman by the face and threw her down. The woman said she did what Tussey wanted after he grabbed a knife from his kitchen and ordered her to take off her pants.
The woman said Tussey threatened to “cut her throat and kill her” if she didn’t take off her pants and stop screaming. The woman reported that she screamed hoping that her friends outside would hear her but they did not.
Tussey allegedly offered to pay the woman $1,000 or $2,000 if she would keep the assault to herself.
“The victim then stated the suspect made her promise not to tell anyone because he was already a sex offender and didn’t want to go back to jail,” the affidavit states.
The woman told investigators that she was in Tussey’s home for about 30 minutes before being allowed to leave. After telling her friends what happened, they drove her to a local hospital where a sexual assault examination was performed and law enforcement was notified.
Tussey is being held in the Bowie County jail with bond set at $500,000. At the time of his arrest, Tussey was on parole in Arkansas for possession of methamphetamine stemming from a 2017 conviction in Miller County.
Tussey was indicted for two counts of aggravated sexual assault with a deadly weapon. Each count is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison.