By BRAD DICKERSON
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW
July 25, 2008 11:36 am
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A jury recommended a Glasgow man spend 35 years in prison after finding him guilty on Thursday of raping of 9-year-old girl.
Robbie Lynn Scott, 35, was also found guilty of being a persistent felony offender by a jury of six men and six women. The prior convictions were for a 2004 flagrant nonsupport charge in Allen County and a 2001 charge of third-degree assault in Metcalfe County.
This new conviction stems from accusations that he raped a then 8-year-old girl on four occasions between June and July 2007.
Scott is set for final sentencing on Sept. 22 at 1 p.m.
The child testified that the incidents occurred at Scott’s Cleveland Avenue apartment.
She lived in an apartment with relatives in the same complex.
During the summer months of 2007, the child said she fell asleep on Scott’s couch and when she woke up, he was on top of her, with his clothes off and her pants down.
She added that this happened on four separate occasions over four consecutive days. She eventually reported it first to her grandfather and then to her grandmother.
The grandmother, who said she has raised the child since she was only three months old, testified that she and the victim had a conversation about the defendant on July 12, 2007, around a month after the incidents occurred.
“(She) told me that she had been raped by Robbie,” the grandmother said, adding that her granddaughter was taking medication in 2007 to help her sleep and for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Dr. Lynette Brooks, a pediatrician at Glasgow Pediatrics, testified that during her examination of the child on July 12, 2007, she observed that the vaginal area was red and irritated and there appeared to be a tear on the hymen.
The grandmother had earlier stated that her granddaughter was being treated for a yeast infection at the time, which could have explained the redness.
Dr. Todd Douglas, a family physician who volunteers at the Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center (BRACAC), said that after a thorough genital exam, the hymen did not appear to be torn, but did appear to be thinning and there was a diagonal scar just inside the vaginal area.
“The diagonal scar is very worrisome for some type of injury,” Douglas said.
Glasgow Police Department Detective Eddie Lindsey, the lead investigator in the case, said he interviewed Scott on July 20, 2007, and testified that the defendant denied the allegations, saying he had not had any contact with the victim in over a year and was never left alone with her.
Lindsey added that Scott knew the child was on medications.
One witness for the prosecution, however, testified that Scott bragged about what he had done.
Jon Michael Jr., a convicted felon for drug possession charges and failure to register as a sex offender, according to assistant commonwealth’s attorney Traci Peppers, told jurors that he and Scott shared a cell together at the Barren County Correctional Center in April and May of this year.
While they were incarcerated, Michael testified that Scott admitted to having sex with the girl and said no jury would believe her story because she was on medication and there was no physical evidence against him.
During cross examination by defense attorney Paul Vanni, Michael said he wrote letters to the Commonwealth’s attorney’s office and told them about Scott’s alleged confession.
He added that he did not expect anything out of it, but was hoping he may get probation.
“I wouldn’t put this on nobody if it weren’t true,” Michael said.
On redirect by Peppers, Michael said he is now in a Louisville halfway house and is expecting to be on probation when he completes the program.
If he fails to meet the requirements, Michael said, he goes to jail for five years.
When Scott took the stand in his own defense, he testified that he and his wife did babysit for the victim on occasion, but they hadn’t since January 2007 and he never took care of her by himself.
He told jurors that he did go over to the girl’s apartment once to borrow bread and, when he walked in, saw the grandfather rubbing the child’s bare buttocks.
“He jumped up real quick and I just walked out,” Scott said.
The grandfather was eventually called as a rebuttal witness and denied ever molesting the girl or having sex with her. He added that, on Wednesday, he watched the victim, as well as Scott’s two children and a neighbor’s child, while his wife was at the Commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
After the trial, Peppers said no charges have been or will be filed against the grandfather.
“There’s absolutely no evidence that this man did anything to this child,” she said.
Vanni declined to comment about the case following the jury’s verdict.
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