THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 21, 1994 TAG: 9412210252
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
A judge denied a motion filed by a defense attorney Tuesday to suppress evidence against a defendant in the Little Rascals child sex-abuse case.
Defense attorney Frank Ballance argued Tuesday in Bertie County Superior Court that testimony of parents, law enforcement officers and others who spoke to children involved in the case might be tainted.
Ballance is representing Shelley Alyce Stone, who was charged more than five years ago with 14 counts of sexual abuse involving nine children who attended Little Rascals Day Care Center in Edenton, where she was an employee.
Ballance, who also is a state senator, argued that he could not cross-examine the children adequately because the interviews might have led them to believe facts that weren't true. He referred to a New Jersey case in which abuse charges against a day care operator were dismissed after the court said irregularities in the way psychiatrists and officers interviewed the children led to tainted testimony.
Prosecutor Bill Hart argued that North Carolina law explicitly says that any possibility of tainted evidence or testimony needs to be determined by a jury.
``While this is a creative motion and worked in New Jersey, in North Carolina the law is clear,'' Hart said. ``The competency, admissibility and sufficiency of evidence versus weight, credibility and probitive value must be determined by the jury.''
Judge Marsh McLelland denied the motion to suppress evidence, but he granted two other defense motions.
The judge agreed that Ballance had a right to a co-counsel, who will be chosen by the clerk of court from a list of attorneys willing to serve indigent clients.
McLelland also allowed Ballance to withdraw a motion asking that the case be dismissed because of unreasonable delays in Stone's trial. Stone was arrested Sept. 26, 1989. She has been free on a high bond.
McLelland allowed the motion to be withdrawn after asking Stone whether she understood what was happening. Hart said Stone needed to affirm her understanding that the motion was being withdrawn, because it had raised the issue of her constitutional right to a speedy trial.
Ballance indicated that he himself might not be ready for trial for another eight months because of his schedule in the General Assembly. He said he might bring up the motion again at a later date.
Hart said after the hearing that he was going to review a state statute to determine whether an attorney's service in the General Assembly is an acceptable cause for repeated delays in a trial.
The file on her case is filled with correspondence between Hart and Ballance, correspondence that McLelland ruled Tuesday could be entered into the court record.
In most of the letters, Hart is pushing to bring the case to court and Ballance gives reasons why he can't proceed.
Hart wrote the first letter in 1992 after Bob Kelly, who owned the day care center with his wife, Betsy, was convicted on 99 counts of sexual abuse involving 12 children and sentenced to 12 consecutive life terms.
In it Hart urged Stone to enter a plea agreement.
KEYWORDS: LITTLE RASCALS DAY CARE CHILD ABUSE CHILD MOLESTER SEX
CRIME TRIAL by CNB