The trial for a 38-year-old Hutchinson man accused of rape, aggravated indecent liberties with a child and aggravated criminal sodomy got underway today in what is expected to be a quick trial with the state only having four witnesses.
Henry “Harley” Davidson is accused of molesting the 10-year daughter of a Hutchinson woman he was living with. The sexual abuse is alleged to have been going on between October of 2010 and September of 2012. At least that’s when the defendant lived with the alleged victim ad her mother.
The victim alleges she was tied up with string when the inappropriate sexual encounters occurred. She alleges that it would occur as much as once a week. The child, now 11 also alleged that he took a picture of her with his cell phone. The state presented evidence of that picture which the mother of the child testified was of her daughter. She identified clothing next to the child that matched an outfit the child wore during that period. The picture also showed the defendant and the pants that the defendant often wore. She says she located those pants that she had just washed and gave them to police.
Also on the stand was Hutchinson Police Detective Scott Carlton who told of telling the mother of the abuse and she not believing him. In fact, she thought her daughter was lying. On cross examination, the mother of the child admitted that the alleged victim would often complain that Davidson wouldn’t tell her that he loved her.
Police served a search warrant on the home on East 8th back on September 28, 2012 and seized a number of DVD’s, the defendants cell phone. Some of the DVD’s contained adult pornography and may have shown the images to the child. But on cross examination, Defense Attorney Kelly Driscoll suggested that he may have been looking at the images and the child merely sat next to him to see what he was watching.
The charges against Davidson fall under Jessica’s Law meaning if convicted, he could be sentenced to multiple counts of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25-years.
The trial is expected be complete with one more witness for the state testifying Wednesday.