The trial of a Wrangell man alleged to have sexually abused a minor last year begins next week, with the First District courtroom scheduled for four days of jury selection and proceedings.
An indictment filed in September accuses 33-year old Doug Ely of three counts of sexual assault against a minor under the age of 13 – two unclassified felonies and one Class A felony.
Jury selection began Monday morning and ran through Tuesday. As of deadline for this story a full jury panel had not yet been seated.
Ely’s attorney, public defender Jude Pate of Sitka, also filed court documents asking Judge Trevor Stephens to allow prior testimony of the victim in the case – evidence Pate states will showing prior inconsistent statements and false reports.
“Mr. Ely requests the court to issue an order admitting certain evidence of the complaining witness’s history of making a false report,” Pate wrote in a June 7 motion.
“The evidence against Mr. Ely consists entirely of the accusations made by his (victim,)” Ely continued. “There are no other witnesses who say they observed any sexual abuse. There is no physical evidence to support the charges. When questioned by police, Mr. Ely cooperated but consistently and unequivocally denied the accusations.”
Pate also wrote that the victim in the case allegedly made other accusations of a false nature before telling police that Ely assaulted her. “The defense investigation has revealed (the victim) has difficulty separating fantasy from reality. Both (the victim’s) mother, and maternal grandmother … have confirmed (the victim) has demonstrated, repeatedly, her inability to ‘know what the truth is.’ Moreover, (the victim) has made prior false accusations of sexual assault against family members.”
Because of the age of the alleged victim in the case, neither her name, nor other family members will be identified in this story.
The motion also alleges that the victim previously accused an uncle of attempting to take off her clothes and touch her in a sexual manner. The accusation, according to Pate, was made approximately one month before accusations were made against Ely. Pate also added that the defense case would present witnesses who will testify to the false accusations against the victim’s uncle.
If allowed in, Judge Stephens would hear evidence of the alleged false statements and determine whether statements made against Ely should be admissible in his case.
Ely was arrested in 2012 after an on-going investigation by the Wrangell Police Department.
The case is scheduled to run through today.
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