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LISBON -- Jurors in the trial for child rape defendant David Jones will begin deliberations at 9 a.m. today after opting for a fresh start in the morning rather than beginning late Thursday afternoon.
The five women and seven men received the case from Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton at 4:45 p.m. Thursday after listening to her instructions and closing statements by county Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone and defense attorney, Lawrence Stacey II, and then rebuttal by county Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones.
Earlier in the day they heard from defense witnesses, including the defendant David Jones, 35, whose address was listed as Ypsilanti, Mich., but who lived in East Palestine at the time of the offenses.
The state had rested its case after a day of testimony Wednesday which included the now 13-year-old female child victim and a now 15-year-old female eyewitness who testified to seeing one of the sexual assaults.
David Jones was accused of inappropriately touching and raping the female child victim starting when she was nearly 4 years old, in the time frame beginning Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 31, 2016. He was indicted last year for three counts of rape, a first-degree felony, one count of sexual battery, a second-degree felony, and one count of gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony.
Jailed under a $100,000 cash or surety bond, he could face a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the rape counts.
In kicking off the state's closing arguments, Yacovone reviewed the elements for each charge and talked about reasonable doubt, saying "no such doubt exists in this case."
He talked about the time element, noting the state doesn't have to prove the exact day and time the offenses occurred but a range of when they occurred. The where was a blue house in East Palestine in Columbiana County, the victim's age was under 10 and the three rape counts represented three types of sexual conduct the defendant allegedly engaged in against the victim.
Yacovone said the defendant was the person who sexually assaulted the victim, no one else.
"The only person who suggested it was someone else was the defendant," he said.
Yacovone outlined how the defendant said someone in a homeless shelter assaulted the girl, then he tried to pin the blame on someone who had stayed at the house, then he tried to suggest the victim made it all up.
"The defendant can't even keep his own story straight," Yacovone said.
He asked the jury to consider the credibility of the witnesses, especially the victim and the medical experts who explained how a victim may remember an incident differently and forget about certain details, about how a trauma like this can affect the victim.
He also questioned what the witnesses, the victim and eyewitness would have to gain from not telling what happened or what they saw.
"Who has the motive to lie in this case? The defendant does," Yacovone said.
Stacey began by saying he agreed with what Yacovone said about stories changing numerous times. He talked about the victim's testimony to the grand jury, what she told the prosecutors during an interview and what she testified to on the stand just the day before. He talked in detail about what she claimed he did during interviews with child advocacy counselors and said her testimony differed from what she told the grand jury about the sexual conduct. He questioned her credibility.
He also questioned where the sexual assaults allegedly occurred, talking about how the defendant was evicted from the blue house by Oct. 31, 2014. He questioned the testimony of the eyewitness, who saw the assault in 2014, but didn't tell anyone anything until 2022. He recalled how she testified and said she would do anything for the victim, anything to help her. He talked about a report that said there was no physical evidence of any type of sexual assault.
"The inconsistencies are insurmountable," Stacey said.
He then recounted the testimony of his client.
"He said he did not do this," Stacey said.
Tammie Riley Jones said the opposite, noting the consistency of the victim's testimony. She said the defendant was deflecting with all the talk about where he lived, about the eviction, about other issues.
She talked about the medical experts and how they explained that a lack of physical evidence does not mean an assault didn't occur. What they did note was the detailed narrative given by the child and the ability of the child to articulate what happened, that did not change.
mgreier@mojonews.com