Woman testifies to sex abuse

Alleged victim accuses man of abusing her for years

NEW BOSTON, Texas-A 20-year-old woman testified Wednesday that her mother's former live-in boyfriend made her "earn" fast food, trips to the store and cellphones through sexual activity.

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Slim and Kristen Black

The alleged victim claims that Roy Dean Brown, 51, began sexually abusing her when she was 5 or 6 years old and that the abuse ended in the summer of 2010 when she told relatives at a family gathering. The girl said she was motivated to disclose the alleged abuse because her mother had mentioned that a doctor's exam would reveal if she was a sexually active teen, under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp.

The girl told the jury of nine women and three men that she didn't realize what Brown was doing to her was wrong until she attended a presentation in middle school concerning inappropriate sexual contact. The girl said she was afraid to tell about the abuse because she thought she would get in trouble, testifying that Brown told her that her mother would kill him and might kill her as well.

The girl and her mother testified that Brown lived with them and the girl's brother from the time the girl was about 2. At the time of the girl's outcry of abuse, the girl's immediate family and Brown were sharing a mobile home in New Boston. The mother testified that as a regional manager for a major fast food chain, she often had to travel and left her children in Brown's care.

The girl's mother testified she was so distraught when she learned of the abuse at the family gathering Aug. 7, 2010, that other family members had to step in and contact law enforcement. The mother said Brown seemed "like a child" when she called him that afternoon to confront him and demand that he turn himself over to authorities.

The mother said she collected bedding from her daughter's bed a couple of days later at the request of the New Boston, Texas, Police Department.

Brown's lawyer, Carl Franklin of Shreveport, La., hammered members of the New Boston Police Department about how the bedding was collected and repeatedly asked if any steps had been taken to document the alleged crime scene. No photos or video documentation of the trailer home by law enforcement exist. Under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards, Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab DNA analyst Amber Moss testified that Brown's and the girl's DNA were found on bedding from the girl's room.

Former New Boston police Detective John Morphew testified that a warrant for Brown's arrest was issued Sept. 3, 2010, but was not executed until Brown was found in Titus County, Texas, in October 2011. Morphew said Brown did not show up at his job as a teacher's aide at Hooks, Texas, Independent School District's elementary school the Monday after the allegations surfaced. After Brown's arrest, a warrant to collect his DNA for comparison to samples taken from the girl's bedding was acquired, and in late January 2012, a sample of Brown's blood was collected and submitted to the crime lab, officers testified.

The state rested its case late Wednesday afternoon, prompting 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart to put the trial in an overnight recess. This morning, Franklin is expected to call witnesses, possibly including Brown, to testify for the defense.

If found guilty of the continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, Brown faces 25 to 99 years or life. A second count of Brown's indictment alleges second-degree sexual assault that allegedly occurred after the girl turned 14. That offense is punishable by two to 20 years in prison.

A verdict in the case could come today.

 

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