Friday, September 22, 2006

Harrison defense questions victim's reliability

Three-day trial expected to wrap up today


By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer

The fate of Robert Joe Harrison Jr., the man accused of kidnapping a 10-year-old boy near Hemingway Elementary School in Ketchum last April, could depend on whether jurors consider the boy's identification of him to be reliable.

At the start of Harrison's trial on Thursday in 5th District Court in Hailey, public defender Kevin Cassidy told jurors that the boy's recollections are not reliable enough to justify a conviction.

Harrison, reportedly a stranger to the boy, is alleged to have enticed him into his truck with the promise of a ride to his mother's workplace, then driving to his West Ketchum apartment instead. The boy testified that Harrison invited him inside to watch a Star Trek movie, but that he declined and walked away.

The case involves no alleged force or touching. However, a charge of kidnapping can be brought against anyone alleged to have enticed a child under 16 away from their parents. Any kidnapping not involving ransom, sex or violence is of the second degree.

Cassidy told jurors that his client would not testify. During opening statements, Harrison took copious notes on a pad of paper. His navy-blue suit and neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper hair and mustache made him appear more like a co-counsel than a criminal defendant.

The boy was the first witness to be called at the trial, which was expected to be concluded by today. In cross-examination, Cassidy tried to highlight inconsistencies in the boy's recollections of Harrison's appearance and of the interior of his red pickup truck. Cassidy's questions appeared to be part of an attempt to persuade the jury that the police may have simply arrested the wrong guy.

"This whole case hinges on what this young man remembers and doesn't remember," Cassidy told the court.

He pointed out that the prosecution would be presenting no forensic evidence—that is, no hair, fingerprints or DNA evidence to prove that Harrison and the boy were ever in contact.

However, Blaine County Deputy Prosecutor Warren Christiansen did submit three exhibits—a brown cowboy hat found in Harrison's apartment and an ice scraper and sunshade, both found in his truck. The boy had told police that he recognized all three.

However, in response to Cassidy's questioning, he admitted that he first told police that the man who gave him a ride had a "white-brownish" moustache but then changed that description to a "brownish" moustache, and that he first said the man was wearing a "blondish" cowboy hat but later said it was a "brownish" hat.

The boy said he saw only the man's profile until the man looked at him once to ask him a question. He also acknowledged that his report to police that he saw Harrison again on the day after the alleged kidnapping was based solely on the fact that he recognized the truck and the hat. He said that when the red truck drove by, he put his head down for fear that the driver might recognize him, and did not see the driver's face.

The boy spoke directly and promptly.

During his direct examination, Christiansen asked the boy if he was sure that the defendant was the man whose photo he had identified in a six-photo lineup. The boy said he was sure.

"After all the evidence," Christiansen told jurors, "you're going to conclude that the defendant, Robert Joe Harrison Jr., did in fact pick (the boy) up that day."




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