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Sexual assault trial results in conviction
By Margo Oxendine
WARM SPRINGS - A 56-year-old man was convicted of aggravated sexual battery against a 14-year-old girl in Bath County Circuit Court last Friday.
Judge Humes Franklin will sentence Elmer Mines, of Warm Springs, after a pre-sentencing investigation.
The crime occurred Oct. 13, 2007, at Mines' trailer on Hidden Valley Road in Warm Springs.
The victim testified that she and others in her family were familiar with Mines; they considered him a good friend, and called him "Dad."
On the evening of Oct. 12, 2007, Mines visited the victim's home and made plans to take the 14-year-old out shooting the next day. When the victim's older sister asked to go along, she testified, Mines told her, "No; it's a fatherdaughter thing."
The first place Mines took the victim the next afternoon was to the liquor store on Main Street in Hot Springs. There, he purchased a 1.75 liter bottle of bourbon.
Mines testified he took the liquor back to his home, and then got his guns, because he did not want to drive around with both guns and liquor in his vehicle.
The pair spent about two hours at the shooting range off Route 609, Dry Run Road, near Bath Alum. Then, Mines drove the girl to his place in Hidden Valley.
Both Mines' testimony and the victim's were fairly consistent, up to that point.
The victim testified Mines took the bourbon from his freezer, mixed it with Pepsi, and brought a glass for her and a glass for himself into his computer room. The victim admitted finishing one glass, and drinking "a little bit of another."
Mines testified the girl went into the kitchen and fixed her own drink; when she returned to the computer room, she was drinking what appeared to him as a glass of Pepsi.
Following a brief visit with Mines' daughter-in-law, the two ended up in Mines' bedroom. The victim was feeling dizzy and unwell. She testified she lay down across the bed and passed out, and when she awoke, Mines was molesting her. The victim told the court she shouted at Mines to stop, and he told her, "You know you want it." When she again demanded he stop, Mines left the bedroom and went to the bathroom, she said.
The girl testified she pulled on her jeans and shirt and ran from the room and down the hallway toward the door. As she passed the bathroom, she looked in, and observed Mines washing his hands and wiping off his mouth, she said.
The victim went to the adjacent home of Russell Robertson, told him what had occurred, and called her sister to come get her. The sister advised the victim to call the sheriff's office.While she was making that call, the victim said, the phone line went dead. Mines, she said, had come into Robertson's kitchen and unplugged the cordless phone.
The victim's sister arrived with a friend, and took the younger girl to the sheriff's office;Virginia State Trooper Tim May arrived, and transported the victim to Bath Community Hospital. Later that night, she was interviewed by Virginia State Police investigator Allen Brown.
Mines testified he did not touch the girl "in any fashion," and had left her passed out on the bed, alone. He denied unplugging the phone. He accused the victim, Brown, Trooper May, the liquor store clerk, a Social Services case worker, a grandmother from Highland County, and his own daughter-in-law, all of lying during their testimonies.
At 3 a.m. the morning of Oct. 14, Brown, May, and two Bath deputies visited Mines' trailer, roused him from bed, searched his premises, and arrested him.
Agent Brown testified that Mines "did not deny anything; he just stood there and stared at me… Then he told me he wanted an attorney."
Mines stated he "was heavily medicated" when police arrived at his door.
Mines' trailer, which Brown described as "unkept," was littered with ladies lingerie.
"We found several pairs" of ladies underwear in the trailer," Brown said, noting there was a pair in the dryer, two pairs in the laundry basket, two pairs in the bureau drawers, a pair in the computer room, and "a pair laying out in the grass" near the trailer.
That underwear - a bright red thong - was passed around the courtroom Friday as evidence, and identified as belonging to the victim.
Bath Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Singleton prosecuted the case. Mines was represented by Ralph Jackson, whose law officeis in Covington.
The defense presented a parade of witnesses on Mines' behalf, including his wife of 33 years, who was in Colorado at the time of the incident. Several teenage girls were among the witnesses. Each testified she knew Mines, had been to his home, and that he had never molested them.
The last defense witness, a Bath County High School student, offered testimony with an element of surprise. Just the week before the trial, she said, she was in the girls' restroom at the school and overheard the victim and another girl talking outside the stall. She recognized the victim's voice, she said, and "I could see her boots."
The witness said she heard the victim telling the other girl about the upcoming trial "and how she had lied about pretty much the whole thing."
Jackson inquired, "Did you know Elmer Mines?" The girl said she did. "Would you lie for him?" She answered, "Not in this kind of situation."
On cross-examination, Singleton asked the witness if she had discussed the trial and her testimony with Mines. She said they had first talked about it "pretty far back," adding, "But we officially talked about it two or three weeks ago."
In his summation, Singleton underscored this sequence of events: "She was approached to be a witness months ago … they talked about it 'officially' two weeks ago, and, lo and behold, last week" she suddenly overhears the victim in the bathroom, saying she is lying about the incident.
Singleton called the case "a quintessential example of child molestation and obsession." Child molesters, he noted, "all have these great personas about taking care of children… The simple truth is, he planned this assault. He set it up the night before."
He also drew attention to Mines' contention that most of the prosecution's witnesses had lied.
"Judge, you know, and I know, and I'm sure Mr. Jackson knows, the biggest liar in the courtroom is one who stands up and says everybody else is lying."
Singleton argued, "I don't think it was anything but what this little girl testified to in court."
Jackson argued that perhaps his client "misspoke" when he used the word "lying … that is a harsh word" to use during testimony. Judges and attorneys know that, he said, "but other people don't know that."
Jackson called it "a difficultcase," and urged, "There is a reasonable doubt in this matter as to what happened that night. They have not proved their case."
During rebuttal, Singleton wondered aloud why the defense "did not subpoena the other little girl (the victim) was apparently talking to" in the bathroom the week before the trial.
In pronouncing his verdict, Judge Franklin noted he had been practicing law for 30 years, with 11 on the bench. "If there's one thing I can say for certain, it is that the Virginia State Police don't keep score," he said. "Yet, unprompted, Mr. Mines said Trooper May (and Investigator Brown) didn't tell the truth about anything. These folks are professionals."
What might have motivated the victim to lie, the judge asked.
"They called him 'Dad.' He had broken bread with this family. What possible motive could this 14-year-old have to put herself through this?"
He noted both the victim's sister and Trooper May testified the girl was "clutching herself and hysterical" at the sheriff's officeand hospital. "It is hard for me to believe that she would make something like that up. There is just no motivation for this girl to put herself through this."
After pronouncing Mines guilty, Franklin ordered him remanded into the custody of the sheriff's office,until the pre-sentencing investigation is concluded. Then, Mines will be brought back to Franklin's court for sentencing on the felony conviction.
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