A Texarkana defense lawyer served Miller County prosecutors with witness subpoenas Monday at a pretrial hearing in a rape case scheduled to go to trial next month.
Jared Allen Harper, 34, is facing charges of rape, second-degree sexual assault and sexual indecency with a child alleged to have occurred from 2010 to 2014 with a girl who is now 13, according to court records and statements made Monday at a pretrial hearing before Circuit Judge Brent Haltom.
Harper's lawyer, Jason Horton, served Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Black and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell with witness subpoenas at Monday's hearing that direct them to appear as witnesses in Harper's trial. Horton claims the prosecution took a new statement from the alleged victim in the case March 6 during an evening meeting at the Miller County courthouse.
Horton's subpoenas brought laughter from Black, who argued that the state has to meet with victims in preparation of trial. Mitchell said she was not present for "99 percent," of the meeting with the alleged victim, which Horton said lasted two hours.
At issue are prior statements made by the alleged victim. The girl made allegations of sexual abuse by Harper during an interview March 27, 2015, at the Children's Advocacy Center in Texarkana. She allegedly recanted June 10, 2015, during a recorded interview with private investigator Randall Harris, who was working for the defense. Horton was not present at the time of the interview with Harris.
Horton filed a motion Friday that alleges the June 10, 2015, recantation with Harris was followed by a June 24, 2015, recantation of the allegations during a second interview at the Children's Advocacy Center. The state filed formal charges against Harper on June 26, 2015. Horton's motion alleges that the girl made recantation statements to members of the Department of Human Services and Miller County Sheriff's Office and that she wrote a three-page letter recanting again in late 2016.
Horton claims the alleged victim told Harris she made up the sexual abuse allegations because Harper, who was involved romantically with her mother, was fighting with her brother and she wanted him out of their lives.
But at a hearing March 7, Black and Mitchell told the court that the alleged victim re-affirmed her initial outcry during a meeting with the prosecution March 6. Horton argued Monday that the girl's meeting with the prosecution amounts to a new statement that should be turned over to the defense. Black argued that the girl simply affirmed what she said in the beginning, that Harper sexually abused her.
Horton argued that Black and Mitchell can't act as prosecutors in a case where they are being called as material witnesses and said he intends to file a motion seeking their disqualification. The state will likely file a motion seeking to quash the subpoenas Horton handed Black and Mitchell at Monday's hearing. Black and Mitchell called the subpoenas "ludicrous" and argued that the state has an obligation to meet with victims in preparation for trial.
"The purpose of the meeting March 6 was to determine if she wanted to go forward with the case," Mitchell said. "There was no new statement taken."
Haltom said he is granting a defense motion for counseling records and notes concerning the alleged victim to be turned over to the court for a review. If Haltom determines anything in the counseling notes could possibly help the defense, the records will be turned over to Horton. If Haltom does not find the counseling notes contain information that supports the defense's position that the alleged victim fabricated the abuse, the records will not be provided to the defense.
The case is scheduled for jury selection April 3.
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.
