La Plata, MD – The sexual abuse of a minor trial of Carlton Antoine King, 38 of Nanjemoy, was over not long after it had begun, when Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West ruled that the state’s 5-year-old witness was not reliable.
Due to the limited amount of evidence other than witness testimony, West eviscerated the state’s case.
Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington called the decision “frustrating and disheartening.
“It’s always difficult as a prosecutor in cases like these,” Covington said. “There’s only so much you can do. You look at each case and if the state feels it is a viable case, you go forward. Then after going through the whole process you get short-stopped.
“I have great respect for the judges,” he added. “They have a difficult job and a lot of times they have to make a tough call. In my opinion, I think this decision was the wrong one.”
Covington explained that after opening arguments, one witness testified–the victim’s mother. At that point, the judge called for a competency hearing because of the victim’s age with the jury outside of the courtroom.
It was not a competency hearing to determine if the person is mentally ill, Covington stressed, but to determine if one so young can understand the difference between telling the truth and a lie.
The judge determined he couldn’t, a decision Covington said was frustrating.
“We felt he absolutely could have been a witness,” he said, arguing that it is something the jury should have been allowed to decide.
Carlton was charged with “touching, licking and sucking” the 4-year-old’s penis while he was in the care of King’s grandmother.
“The victim told his mother that ‘Carlton touched my pee pee,” Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Freeman told the jury during opening arguments. The mother took the boy to the hospital to be examined, and the hospital staff called the Charles County Sheriff’s Office.
King was charged Aug. 16, 2015.
“Prior to this incident, this mother and her child did not have a care in the world,” Freeman said. “They knew Carlton King and Grandma Peggy. They were like family until this happened.”
Charles County assistant public defenders Zain Shirazi and Elizabeth Connell, argued a young child was highly susceptible to suggestion and that evidence was scarce.
Shirazi called the victim “a rambunctious kid who was all over the place,” when investigators questioned him about the alleged assault.
He asserted that the victim and his mother went to a cookout at Grandma Peggy’s weeks after the alleged incident took place.
“There is no physical evidence to implicate Carlton,” he added.
Covington said the process was frustrating, “because that’s it. This case, the state doesn’t get to appeal.
“You know, they say each defendant is entitled to his day in court, well, victims deserve their day in court as well,” Covington stated. “We felt we had a strong witness and the child should have been allowed to testify. As to whether or not he knew the difference between truth and a lie should have been something for the jury to decide.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com