Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 28, 1994 TAG: 9404280223
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After the session, held at a state home for troubled youths, a counselor pressed the girl for details - starting an investigation that on Wednesday brought John E. Canty before a jury in a Roanoke courtroom.
Canty, a former dropout-prevention counselor for the city school system, pleaded not guilty to a charge of having sex with the 13-year-old at his home in June 1992.
His trial, scheduled to resume today, will pit the word of what defense attorneys call a respected, caring counselor against that of a high school dropout with a troubled past.
"We're not talking about an angel," prosecutor Betty Jo Anthony told the jury.
Prosecutors contend the girl is more believable than Canty, who has changed details and made inconsistent statements while denying the allegations in interviews with police.
"Your job is to judge credibility," Anthony told the jury.
At the time of the incident, Canty, 34, was coordinator of the Youth Experiencing Success program, counseling at-risk students at William Fleming and Patrick Henry high schools. He also coached football and track at Fleming. He has since lost his job as a result of the charge.
"This is absolutely the worst nightmare you could imagine for anyone who serves in a position of trust or authority," defense attorney Tony Anderson said.
The jury spent most of the day Wednesday hearing from Lt. J.E. Dean of the Roanoke Police Department, who interviewed Canty during two lengthy, tape-recorded statements.
Last December, Dean confronted Canty with the girl's accusations: that he picked her up at her home under the guise of counseling her, took her to his Meadowbrook Road home and had sex with her in the basement.
According to Dean, the girl said she was forcibly raped. But authorities chose to charge Canty with having sex with a minor - also known as statutory rape - in which force is not alleged.
At one point in the interview, held before charges were filed, Dean told Canty that he did not believe the case was one of forcible rape. "I have some problems, knowing this girl's background, that that term applies," he said.
"We deal with these types of girls all the time," Dean said in another part of the interview. "And they can get you in trouble quicker than anything."
Canty admitted during the interviews that he took the student to his home - "that was a mistake" - as he tried to convince her not to drop out of school.
"I tried my best to help her," he told Dean. "I did not touch her in any way."
But after nearly an hour of saying that nothing happened, Canty changed his story slightly. He said the girl approached him in a suggestive manner and fondled him, but that he resisted her advances.
"I know in my heart what happened," Canty said. "I told her no."
Canty gained attention in the summer of 1990 when he accused city police of using excessive force to arrest him after he tried to assist two young girls charged with trespassing at a fast-food restaurant.
His complaints led the NAACP to call for an investigation of the police department. A citizen's task force formed as a result pushed for changes that included increased efforts to recruit minority police officers.
by CNB