Trial begins for man accused of abusing girls
NEW BOSTON, Texas — Opening statements and testimony are expected to begin this morning in the child sex abuse trial of a man accused of molesting two girls.
Among the many charges facing Derrick Deshawn Harper, 32, is continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14. The offense is punishable by 25 to 99 years or life in prison.
A jury was chosen Tuesday afternoon to decide the case. Testimony is scheduled to begin today at the Bowie County courthouse in New Boston before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell.
The allegations against Harper began with an outcry of sexual abuse made by a girl to personnel at her school in Tarrant County, Texas, in May 2019, according to a probable-affidavit. The girl told a forensic interviewer in Hurst, Texas, that Harper, to whom she is distantly related, sexually abused her when she was 4 and 5 years old in Texarkana, Texas.
The girl allegedly described multiple incidences of sexual abuse by Harper occurring from 2013 to 2017.
“She stated that she would cry and kick at the suspect and he would sit on her legs and continue what he was doing,” the affidavit states. “She stated that he told her that he would kill her family if she told anyone what happened.”
The girl said the alleged abuse ended when her family moved to the Dallas area.
Based on statements made by the girl in Tarrant County, a second girl was interviewed at the Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center in August. The second girl, now 12, alleged that she was 7 or 8 years old in 2014 or 2015 when Harper took her and several of her young female relatives into a bedroom and locked the door.
The second girl alleged Harper pulled her pants down and sexually assaulted her. She alleged she saw Harper sexually abuse the other girl after she managed to push him off of her. The second girl alleged Harper sexually assaulted her multiple times.
Harper is represented by Assistant Public Defender Clayton Haas. First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp and Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards are prosecuting.