Alleged victim testifies in sexual abuse trial

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN / The Daily Inter Lake

The witness's head barely cleared the top of the stand Monday as she described the sexual abuse allegedly committed by 38-year-old Jason Lee Newberry.

The now 10-year-old girl told the jury in graphic detail that she was inappropriately touched numerous times and forced to perform other sex acts during the first day of Newberry's trial in Flathead County District Court.

Prosecutors allege the molestation occurred from January 2002 to June 2007, beginning when the girl was 3 and still in diapers.

The girl testified the alleged abuse happened "more than once… a lot" and that Newberry threatened to kill her if she told anybody.

When Deputy Flathead County Attorney Lori A. Adams asked if she was still afraid of Newberry, the girl said no.

"Because he can't hurt me anymore," she said.

During her time on the witness stand, the alleged victim consistently told the jury she had been inappropriately touched and that she had told Newberry "no" and tried to get away.

Newberry, of Evergreen, pleaded not guilty in April to one count of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of sexual assault, both felonies.

During her cross examination of the alleged victim, defense attorney Carolyn S. Gill asked several questions about the amount of time prosecutors spent with the girl going over her testimony.

Gill also pointed out apparent discrepancies among the answers in interviews the girl gave to investigators, prosecutors, and defense attorneys.

The alleged victim's testimony, which took more than two hours, came after jury selection Monday morning and attorneys' opening statements in the early afternoon.

Adams asked jurors to rely on their common sense and return with a guilty verdict.

"She was abused … as long as she could remember," Adams said. "She still believes, to this day, that he will kill her."

Adams also asked the jury to take into account the alleged victim's age.

"We are asking a lot of this 10-year-old child, and I ask you to take that into consideration," said Adams as she warned the jury not to expect a trial as seen on TV. "This is not Hollywood. This trial is not scripted. [The alleged victim] is a real child who had something horrible happen to her and is going to come in and tell you about it."

In her opening statement, Gill told jurors that the decision whether to convict or acquit would rest on who they believed more: Newberry or his young accuser.

"What this case is about … is a matter of credibility," she said.

Gill is expected to call an expert witness to testify about the unreliability of a child's memory and how suggestion or leading questions by investigators can taint a child's disclosure of alleged abuse.

Gill also argued that the alleged victim only made the allegations to get Newberry, an admitted methamphetamine user with a history of domestic abuse, out of her family's life.

"She had never really liked Jason, and she will say that," Gill said.

The trial is expected to last through Wednesday. If convicted on both counts, Newberry could face up to 200 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com