Defense attacks state’s rape evidence

DICKINSON — The attorney representing a 15-year-old boy accused of raping another child on Wednesday attacked the state’s case as one in which officials claimed proof where none existed.

Defense attorney Tad Nelson tried to illustrate his point during testimony from the head of a clinic that examines children reported as victims of sex crimes.

Dr. James Lukefahr, director of the ABC Clinic in Galveston, testified Wednesday that he had handled about 3,100 child cases in nine years and failed to find signs of sexual abuse only “150 to 200 times,” or in only about 5 percent of cases.

Nelson’s line of questioning appeared to be constructing a case that the clinic, which is supposed to be independent and objective, was actually biased in favor of prosecutors.

That statement came during the second day of testimony in the trial of a boy who was 14 when he was accused of sexually assaulting a neighbor child, then 11.

The younger boy’s sister, 16, told the County Court No. 2 jury on Tuesday that she walked into the older boy’s Dickinson home in June 2003 to find him lying on top of her brother on a bed. Their shorts were down around their ankles, she said.

“I was shocked,” she testified. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

That allegation started an investigation that resulted in the trial that got under way Tuesday. Prosecutor Amy Nguyen told jurors it was a traumatizing attack.

In his opening statement to jurors Tuesday, Nelson asserted they would see no physical proof that his client assaulted the younger boy.

“There is no trauma, no sign of abuse,” he told jurors.

A doctor who testified Tuesday appeared to support that claim, testifying that she found none of the physical damage commonly associated with sexual assault.

Lukefahr testified that he found a small inflammation on the younger boy that could have come from sexual activity. Under cross-examination by Nelson, however, he also said the small aberration could have been caused by normal activities.

In both questioning of witnesses and statements to jurors, Nelson repeatedly made the point that the younger boy had never told officials he had been sexually assaulted.

However, Nguyen asked Lukefahr if abused children sometimes denied being assaulted. Lukefahr said yes, citing embarrassment as a reason for silence.

Nelson said the case was an example of “shoddy, irresponsible police work” and noted, while questioning one officer Tuesday, that police had not secured the bed where the girl alleged the attack had occurred, thus losing any physical evidence that could have been on it.

The charge carries a possible prison term of up to 40 years.