Starks found not guilty of abuse

By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times

July 19, 2008 03:12 pm

— BURKESVILLE — An Allen County woman was found not guilty Friday in a criminal abuse case in Monroe Circuit Court.
Tammy Starks, of Scottsville, was accused of beating her former boyfriend’s 5-year-old son in April 2007 during a visit to his father’s Monroe County home.
Starks said she was relieved to learn she had been cleared in the case.
“I always knew that I did not do anything to (him),” she said shortly after the jury’s verdict was delivered. “I am very sorry that he went through what he did, but I had to take it to trial because I want my name cleared.”
Starks was indicted in May 2007 by a Monroe County grand jury on charges of criminal abuse in the first degree, possession of a controlled substance in the first degree (cocaine), possession of a controlled substance in the first degree (methamphetamine) and possession of drug paraphernalia.
On Friday, a 12-member Cumberland County jury composed of eight women and four men found her not guilty of criminal abuse in the first degree by unanimous vote after deliberating almost two hours.
Plaintiffs in the case, Emily Moore, of Tompkinsville, and her family, were upset that the jury found Starks not guilty.
“We will not go through the justice system any more,” Moore said as she exited the courtroom, but would not comment further.
Jesse Stockton, commonwealth’s attorney for Monroe County, said, “Days like these is when it’s hard to be a public servant.”
The commonwealth alleged that Starks beat the 5-year-old boy with a belt while the boy and his brother and sister were visiting their father, Michael Graves.
But Starks’ attorney, Ken Garrett, said the commonwealth’s case was “riddled with holes.”
Garrett pointed out that testimony from all three children on Thursday did not match up.
All three testified that the younger boy got into trouble during the visit, but they were unclear where their father was during the alleged whipping.
The younger boy testified that his brother and sister were at the home of their paternal grandmother when the alleged incident occurred.
Garrett also noted that it was the boy’s father who admitted Thursday to disciplining the children.
Garrett also pointed out that in photos taken on April 7, 2007, of the boy’s bruised backside show a handprint and that Graves testified that he had spanked his children with his hand, but that he had used a belt in the past.
He also pointed out to the jury that Starks testified that she did not spank the boy, even though the child said she spanked him with a belt.
“The evidence shows there are handprints all over this child’s hind end,” Garrett said, pointing to an image projected on a movie screen of photos of the boy’s bruised bottom.
In his opening statements, which he reserved for near the end of the trial, Garrett pointed out that Starks told Kentucky State Police Trooper Michael Dubree that she went to her mother’s home in Scottsville on April 6.
Starks’ mother, Willa, testified that her daughter was not with Graves and his children on the day of the alleged beating, but was with her.
Graves also testified that Starks went to her mother’s home on that day and that she spent the night.
While deliberating the case, the jury asked to view a video of Graves’ testimony.
Now that the trial is over, Starks plans to move forward with her life.
“For the past year this has been overclouding me,” she said. “Now, hopefully, this is a beginning where I can go ahead and try to live my life.”
Drug charges pending against Starks were continued in March, according to Monroe County Circuit Court records. No action was taken in regard to those charges.
The trial was moved to Cumberland County because a jury could not be seated in Monroe County. According to state law, if a jury cannot be seated in the county where the alleged crime took place, the trial is moved to the closest county in the same judicial district. The 40th Circuit Court judicial district is comprised of Monroe, Cumberland and Clinton counties.