Elliott jailer found guilty

By KENNETH HART
The Independent

CATLETTSBURG June 30, 2009 12:09 am

— The jailer of Elliott County is now a convicted rapist.
A seven-woman, five-man Boyd Circuit Court jury deliberated for about three hours and 45 minutes on Monday before finding Charles F. Howard guilty of the first-degree rape of a female prisoner he transported from Sandy Hook to the Boyd County Detention Center on Aug. 31.
The same jury recommended Howard, 51, of Sandy Hook, serve 12 years in prison for the crime, which carries a 10-to-20-year sentence.
Monday’s verdict and sentencing concluded a six-day jury trial, the very first trial in the new $20 million Boyd County Judicial Center.
Howard bowed his head slightly but had no other visible reaction when Judge Marc I. Rosen read the jury’s verdict. His wife, Christy, seated near the front of the courtroom gallery, sobbed loudly and had to be helped from the courtroom a few minutes later by two women who had been sitting with her.
Howard’s victim, a 27-year-old mother of three who lives in Boyd County, also wept when the verdict was read. She was embraced by Boyd County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Lother Hembroff, who appeared to be crying herself.
Through Hembroff, the victim declined after court to speak to the media.
The woman’s name is not being published because The Independent does not identify sex crime victims unless they give their consent, or unless they seek compensation through civil litigation.
Howard’s attorney, Michael Curtis, said the verdict would be appealed. He also said he believed the jury had punished his client because of his status as an elected official.
“The whole issue was forcible compulsion, not whether he was in a position of trust,” he said.
However, Commonwealth’s Attorney David Justice said the case came down to the credibility of its two principals — Howard and the victim.
“I think the jury believed the testimony of this young lady, and they simply did not believe the testimony of the defendant,” he said. “He was caught in several inconsistencies, several lies.”
Under state sentencing guidelines, Howard will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence — just over 10 years — before he can be considered for parole. He also will have to complete the state’s sex offender treatment program before he can earn any time that will count toward his parole eligibility. Once he is released, he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Howard was released on $20,000 bond shortly after he was arrested, so he has no credit for time served. Following the trial, Rosen revoked Howard’s bond and remanded him to custody.
Rosen scheduled Howard’s final sentencing for 1 p.m. July 10, pending the completion of a sex offender risk assessment report by the state Office of Probation and Parole.
Whether Howard had sexual intercourse with the victim was never in question. He admitted he did, and DNA tests proved it. The issue was whether he forced her to do so.
The victim — who was arrested in Elliott County the day of the rape on several outstanding misdemeanor warrants — testified that Howard drove her to an isolated spot off U.S. 60 in the Rush area and forced her to have sex with him as the two were traveling to the Boyd lockup. She said Howard held her down in the front seat of his vehicle as he was raping her.
Howard told jurors he and the woman had consensual sex in his vehicle while it was parked in a small cemetery near the Appalachian Fuels property at the junction of Interstate 64 and Ky. 180. Security cameras at Appalachian Fuels recorded Howard’s Ford Crown Victoria entering and leaving the property.
The woman testified the rape occurred after Howard left Appalachian Fuels and turned left onto Ky. 180, then left again onto westbound U.S. 60. As the two were leaving Appalachian Fuels, Howard made sexual advances toward her, she said.
In his closing remarks during the sentencing phase of the trial, Justice told jurors that Howard, who was elected in 2003, had abused the trust the voters of Elliott County had placed in him “in the worst way possible.”
“He chose a victim that was particularly vulnerable,” he said. “He chose someone he thought you would not believe.”
Justice also reminded jurors of the victim’s testimony regarding how Howard had tried to intimidate her into keeping quiet by telling her he could make things worse for her if she told because Boyd Jailer Joe Burchett was his “best friend.”
“He was in power, and he was showing her he was in power,” he said. “In abusing that power the way he did, he grievously hurt this young woman.”
In his closing remarks, Curtis reminded the jury there were no physical injuries to back up the woman’s claim that she had been forcible raped. He also insinuated the woman may have been trying to use sex as a get-out-of-jail-free card, of sorts, “or maybe she wanted to hit a gold mine.” That remark drew an objection from Justice.
Justice, in his closing, said Curtis had “done his best to make (the victim) look like the defendant in this case.” He also said the essential elements of the victim’s story had remained consistent each time she told it, while Howard had changed his story several times.
It will be up to the state to institute proceedings to remove Howard from office. Following his arrest, the Elliott Fiscal Court transferred Howard’s duties to Mark E. Lewis, an employee of the county road department.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.

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