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Attorney asks for case to be dismissed
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Published: November 17, 2009
A defense attorney argued that the state waited too long to take his client, a former teacher assistant, to trial on sex charges.
Ken Darty made a motion in Iredell County Superior Court Monday to dismiss the charges against Donald Williams.
Williams was arrested nearly three years ago on seven counts of statutory rape/sex offense.
Darty argued before Judge Joe Crosswhite that the state bypassed opportunities to take the case to trial.
Darty called Assistant District Attorney Carrie Garvey to the stand to testify about the timeline in the case.
Williams was arrested on Nov. 21, 2006, and after initially receiving a $50,000 bond, was ordered held under a $200,000 bond. He has been in custody since his arrest.
Garvey testified that she was assigned the case in August 2008 after the ADA handling the case previously left the office.
"What precluded you from trying the case?" Darty asked Garvey.
Garvey said she couldn't answer for what was done prior to the case being assigned to her.
But, she said, during the past nearly 15 months that she has had the case, other cases, some older, took priority or it wasn't her week to work in Superior Court.
Garvey and the other five ADAs assigned to Superior Court are divided into teams of three, and each is assigned a certain term of court.
She said the case was further delayed with plea negotiations, which Williams ultimately rejected.
Darty pointed out that he, as a defense attorney, has no say in scheduling the case for trial.
"We don't have the authority to determine what cases are called for trial," Darty said to Crosswhite.
Under questioning from her colleague Crystal Beale, Garvey said the first motion for a speedy trial was filed in May of this year, and with plea negotiations under way, the case was not docketed until this week.
Williams, wearing handcuffs and shackles, also took the stand.
He testified that he was fired from his job as a teacher assistant nearly a year after he was charged, and that he hasn't seen his now 11-year-old daughter since his arrest.
Darty argued that three years is prejudicial to his client.
"Tell me how long is too long for the state?" he asked. "There is no legitimate reason why this case has taken three years to come to trial."
Garvey argued that the state hasn't been willingfully neglectful in delaying the case.
The case involves a teenage boy who, between the ages of 14 and 15, said Williams asked for sexual favors in return for pills.
Darty also made a motion to exclude the testimony of a then 24-year-old who said Williams approached him in the same manner as the teenager.
He said Williams offered to give him money to help get his driver's license back and pay for other expenses in return for sexual favors.
The man told authorities he refused Williams' offer.
Darty asked Crosswhite to exclude the testimony because the two instances are not similar.
The nearly 10-year age difference between the two sets them apart, Darty argued.
Garvey said the two cases are similar in that Williams approached both the same way, asking them to work mowing lawns.
Crosswhite said he will rule on both motions when court resumes this morning.
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