Posted: 12/8/04
Attorney wants sex charges dismissed
The attorney for Timothy Allen Carter argued in District Court on December 6 that criminal sexual conduct charges against his client should be dismissed.
Carter, 27, is charged with with two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree for allegedly having sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13 in Caledonia on August 22.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and or a $40,000 fine. Carter is currently in the Houston County Jail. His unconditional bail is $150,000.
The incident allegedly occurred while she and the defendant were taking a walk from the Ranch Bar to the Kwik Trip.
Ross Phelps, a public defender from La Crescent, challenged the constitutionality of the case on Monday before Judge James Fabian. He wrote in a court brief that a City of Caledonia ordinance prohibits anyone under age 21 from entering a liquor establishment except to work, consume meals, or attend social functions. Phelps said that the victim appeared to be much older than her chronological age.
Phelps also argued that the county illegally eavesdropped and recorded telephone calls that Carter made from the jail to him. Phelps said he thought calls were not recorded, and was told that by jailers. But Phelps wrote that attorney Rick Jackson led him to believe on October 27 that such calls were routinely recorded.
Carter is scheduled to go to trial on Monday December 13 in Caledonia.
On October 26, Fabian granted a defense motion to suppress statements that Carter gave to officers on August 26 in Willmar. Carter didnít unequivocally waive his right to counsel, and officers gave misleading information regarding their inability to answer his questions unless he waived that right, Fabian ruled.
The judge denied a motion to suppress a photo line-up and dismiss the charges.
About the alleged assault
According to the criminal complaint, the girl told investigators that the incident occurred after the Houston County Fair had ended on Sunday night, August 22. Carter had been working in a midway stand at the fair.
An adult friend of the alleged victim reported it to Houston Police Chief David Breault on August 24.
Police tracked Carter to Willmar, Minnesota, where he had gone with the carnival to a new fair. Chief Breault and Caledonia police officer Jim Logan arrested him there on August 26.
Carter has a driverís license listing his address as Brooksville, Florida. He told the court at his arraignment that he owned a home in New Mexico, and he told a witness that he was from Texas.
Caledonia Argus
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