Molestation case ends with mistrial

John Oxford

May 08, 2008 10:32 pm

— MOULTRIE — A question about a child molestation victim’s prior behavior led the judge to call a mistrial in the case Thursday in Colquitt County Superior Court.
Judge Frank Horkan met with Assistant District Attorney Brian McDaniel and Defense Attorney John McClure during McClure’s questioning of a witness. Because of a question about the then 13-year-old girl’s alleged prior sexual behavior, McDaniel requested for and was granted a mistrial. It will potentially be retried with a different jury at a later date.
Walter O’Neal Mitchell, 40, of Old Albany Road, was on trial for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old girl at least 10 times between July 2006 and November 2006. Jurors only heard from two witnesses, including the girl’s mother, before the mistrial was declared.
Sheila Melton stated she had known and dated Mitchell while in high school, but she had not talked with him until he showed up at her house in July 2006. They began dating again and had even got engaged since Mitchell came back into her life, and he began staying over at her house about a month into the two dating, testimony said.
While Melton worked, she told the jury Mitchell would watch her three daughters, who were between 5 years old and 15 years old during the time. On a night in November 2006, Melton could not remember if it was Nov. 16 or Nov. 19, things quickly changed between Melton and Mitchell.
Mitchell was driving Melton’s 13-year-old daughter back home to 708 D.H. Alderman Road with a friend for the two girls to spend the night together, Melton said. The two girls were dropped off at about 8 p.m. that night, and Mitchell left to go elsewhere.
The two girls went in to talk to Melton, who she said was not feeling well that night, and the girls told her they needed to talk. It was then the 13-year-old told Melton that Mitchell had tried to pull up her shirt and fondle her breasts as they drove back home. The girl also told Melton that Mitchell had “messed with her” several times before that night also.
Melton told the jury she got up and was waiting for Mitchell to come home, stating she wanted to kill him and kill herself. She took all her children to her husband’s house the next morning, and he called the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) to report the incident. Melton said she had a nervous breakdown the day after she was told of the molestation, and she spent three weeks in a crisis center in Thomasville.
When cross-examined by McClure, Melton said Mitchell had been advised by DFCS to leave the house before the reported incident. He did not, however, get forced out of the house by her, and she never pointed a gun at Mitchell but had pointed a gun, but not fired it, at her husband, Bobby Melton.
Melton said she had tried to get revenge on Mitchell after she was told of the molestation, even following the DFCS case worker to where he was the day after she was told of it. She said they had not argued before the molestation was reported, however.
McClure then asked the jury be removed after Melton said where she believed Mitchell had gone after dropping off the two girls. McClure asked that a mistrial be declared because of the attack on Mitchell’s character, but Horkan overruled the request. McDaniel said Melton was just in giving her answer because McClure had been pushing her and pushing her on the stand.
Former DFCS caseworker Angela Saunders was called to the stand next, and she clarified the molestation was reported to her Nov. 16. She went over to Melton’s house to find out about the incident, and Melton went from being upset to crying to irate about the incident.
A white truck drove by the house slowly that morning, and Saunders said she followed the truck after it was confirmed to be Mitchell. While at the house, Melton began screaming at Mitchell after he was brought out of the house by a Colquitt County sheriff’s deputy, testimony stated. Saunders met with Melton a second time after both got back to Melton’s house.
Saunders told McDaniel she had met with the family to discuss a family safety plan Aug. 31, 2006. Mitchell was a part of that meeting, but it was best determined then he should leave the house, despite being there in violation of the plan. She had also met with Melton and Mitchell at her office Nov. 14, 2006, for a family team meeting when it was again determined best for Mitchell to leave the house and family despite Melton’s plan to incorporate Mitchell into the family.
During a cross-examination of Saunders, McClure asked about the 13-year-old’s possible sex activities with other persons. McDaniel objected to the question, and Horkan met with both attorneys in his chamber before the trial was declared a mistrial and the jurors were dismissed.