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Grand jury issues indictment against Earls |
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Thursday, 03 September 2009 |
(AP) — An Oklahoma grand jury leveled new child molestation charges Wednesday against a man whose case provoked a national furor after he was sentenced to just one year in jail for raping a 4-year-old girl.
A grand jury in Pittsburg County indicted David Harold Earls, 65, of Wister, on three counts of lewd and lascivious or indecent acts with a child under 16. The charges accuse Earls of molesting two children, a 5-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy, between May 9, 2008, and July 20, 2008.
The indictment accuses Earls of touching the children "in a manner calculated to arouse and excite sexual interests."
Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who requested the grand jury investigation in July, said an investigation by his office uncovered allegations against Earls that have not been prosecuted before.
"Our investigators talked with witnesses who alleged abuse by Earls going back about 30 years," Edmondson said. While some allegations will not be prosecuted because too much time has passed, "it will help us show a long pattern of behavior that poses a threat to others," he said.
The attorney general got involved after publicity over the original case drew national attention and calls for an investigation of the judge who sentenced Earls and the district attorney.
"Everybody was shocked and disappointed by the original sentence," Edmondson said. He said the publicity prompted other victims to come forward.
"It's that history that compelled our office to do whatever we could to make sure he would not be released," Edmondson said. "It was clear to us that if he were released, he would victimize other children."
Earls, 64, pleaded no contest in May to first-degree rape and forcible sodomy for attacking a 4-year-old girl he was baby-sitting. All but one year of a 20-year sentence was suspended as part of a plea agreement.
District Attorney Jim Bob Miller has said prosecutors proposed the plea deal because they did not have DNA evidence and determined that Earls' accuser, now 5, was not able to testify. He has also said Earls has cancer and has about three years to live.
Miller and Judge Thomas Bartheld, who sentenced Earls, were criticized at the time, but Earls' court-appointed attorney, Tim Mills, said the deal was fair considering the evidence. Mills did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment on the latest charges.
Earls had already served almost nine months in jail when he was sentenced and is scheduled to be released on Sept. 24.
"He will not be set free," Edmondson said. Earls will likely be transferred from state custody to Pittsburg County authorities and prosecutors may ask that he be held without bond, the attorney general said.
Because of prior convictions, Earls faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted on each of the three new charges, Edmondson said. He said the victims are expected to testify in the case.
"The victims, according to their mother, are strong and doing well," the attorney general said.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 04 September 2009 )
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