Kentucky

The following story from the Appalachian News Express was forwarded to me.  I must admit that this newspaper in the heart of the mountains does some outstanding local reporting.  Should they want to email me stories they would like to make sure hit the legal news, then please feel free to do so.  We posted their last piece on busting the medical malpractice premium fiction.

No indictments in teen sex-for-rent case
BY MARY MUSIC

STAFF WRITER ? Appalachian News Express

A Pike County grand jury did not believe a woman sold her underage daughter to a 23-year-old man for the payment of her rent.

After handing down a slew of indictments Wednesday, the grand jury issued two ?no true bills,? ruling that there isn?t enough evidence to indict Lower Pompey Road resident Angela Michelle Kendrick, 33, or Raccoon resident William B. Justice.

Pike County Sheriff?s Deputy Greg Smith charged Kendrick with helping Justice rape her daughter by allowing him access to the 15-year-old in exchange for the payment of her bills.

After the charges were filed and a preliminary hearing was held for Justice, Chief Assist. Pike County Attorney Roger Varney said Justice raped the teenager more than 20 times, but Kendrick?s attorney Darrell Sammons argued that the facts would prove that Kendrick did not sell her daughter.

?We insisted all along that the story was not what was being painted by the media and those providing the media with the alleged facts,? Sammons said yesterday. ?And the fact were not as alleged in this case.?

He said Kendrick didn?t know how old Justice was when he started dating her daughter.

Smith, who testified that Justice dated the teenager for about two months, presented evidence to the grand jury and said he doesn?t know why an indictment wasn?t issued. At the preliminary hearing, he said he did not record interviews he conducted with the defendants and witnesses in the case.

The grand jury issued an order for the dismissal of a complicity charge against Kendrick and the rape charge against Justice because the allegations and evidence presented were insufficient to indict the pair with felony criminal charges. When the order is signed by judge, the charges will be dismissed with prejudice, which means Kendrick and Justice could be accused of the crimes again.

?The grand jury should be commended for doing their job,? Justice?s attorney Ned Pillersdorf said. ?There is a belief that the grand jury simply rubber stamps what the police or prosecutors want.?

Pillersdorf said he ?took a gamble? and presented the grand jury with Justice?s side of the story: That he was having a consensual sexual relationship with the 15-year-old and that money had nothing to do with it.

Pillersdorf said indicting people in cases like this are a waste of time.

?It happens all the time in the real world and we really don?t need to be indicting people for this,? he said. ?It?s not in the interest of the criminal justice system. There?s a thing called ?discretion? about who we prosecute. If we locked up every male in Pike County who had a sexual relationship with someone under 16, we?d have no jail space.?

In Kentucky, a female can?t legally consent to sex until she is 16.

Smith said he will confer with the commonwealth to see if he can charge Justice and Kendrick with misdemeanor charges in district court.

Commonwealth?s Attorney Rick Bartley was unavailable for comment.

Wednesday, Kendrick was arrested by Kentucky State Police trooper Gary Sykes for a fourth-offense DUI and traffic violations.