Trial begins in incest case

The prosecution in a local sexual abuse trial involving an underage girl began presenting its case Wednesday in Hardin Circuit Court.

The girl’s mother was a witness for the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office as the case opened against George William Beason, 32, of Elizabethtown.

Beason is charged with third-degree rape, three counts of incest, three counts of third-degree sodomy, six counts of first-degree sexual abuse and distribution of obscene matter to minors.

In an opening statement, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Carr said the prosecution would show Beason admitted to one incident of sexual abuse, further abused the girl and bought her a cellphone to help him perpetuate other incidents of abuse.

Defense attorney David Stewart said he would show the girl denied being sexually abused and it is unlikely others living in the house wouldn’t have noticed such misconduct.

The girl’s mother said she was living with Beason and her children at the time of the incidents.

She said a friend told her in September 2010 her daughter reported Beason touched himself in front of her.

The mother said she confronted Beason and her daughter, but both denied the incident.

But a short time later, she said, her daughter said it was true.

She said Beason admitted to the incident the following May. Afterward, the mother said she took steps to keep them separated when she wasn’t at home.

“I tried not to create an opportunity for them to be alone together,” she said.

The mother said she left for job training in September 2011. According to the prosecution, another incident of sexual abuse took place at that time.

The woman said she asked the girl’s grandmother to stay with the children and Beason because she didn’t trust him alone with them, but she didn’t tell the grandmother why.

Prosecutors said they would prove Beason sneaked into the girl’s bedroom to abuse her while her grandmother slept.

The girl’s mother said her daughter reported the abuse hadn’t stopped and progressed to sexual contact. She confronted Beason, she said, who claimed the girl was lying because she had been getting in trouble recently.

“He was lying, and I told him, ‘I want you to leave my house,’” the mother said.

She said she contacted child protective services and the Advocacy and Support Center the next day.

Under Stewart’s questioning, the mother said the girl was having trouble with grades and not doing all her chores. The woman said she yelled at at her daughter because she heard the girl might be using marijuana. She also said none of the other children noticed abuse.

The woman said she asked her daughter after the first report of abuse if anything happened, but her daughter said no.

Clinton Turner, who was a detective for Elizabethtown Police Department at the time, said information on the girl’s cellphone led police to obtain video from Wal-Mart in Elizabethtown of Beason buying the phone.

A search warrant led to the discovery of bodily fluid on the carpet of the girl’s room, where she said Beason sometimes ejaculated, Turner said.

Investigators also found pornography, including an adult film that included a character named Jack, who the girl mentioned by name in a police interview, Turner said.

Defense attorney Adam Sanders asked if police interviewed other children living in the house or the girl’s grandmother.

Turner said they hadn’t.

Robert Thurman, a forensic biologist for the Kentucky State Police lab in Louisville, said tests on the carpet identified the fluid as semen.

Shannon Phelps, another specialist at the lab, said she was able to extract sperm cells from a carpet sample and match them to Beason with a 126 sextillion-to-one measure of certainty.

Parts of the carpet sample showed a mixture of three contributors. The odds against two of those contributors being Beason and the alleged victim are 1 to 90,000, she said.

Stewart asked Phelps whether a contribution could be the result of a person walking on the floor, which she said was possible.

“There’s no reason for (Beason’s) sperm to be in my daughter’s bedroom,” the mother said.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office plans to close its case this morning with the girl as its final witness. The defense will present its case afterward.

Incest is a Class B felony if the victim is younger than 18, while the remaining charges are Class D felonies. Beason faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He is lodged at the Hardin County Detention Center in lieu of a $250,000 bond.

Amber Coulter can be reached at (270) 505-1746 or acoulter@thenewsenterprise.com.