Mail Tribune News - Girls to testify in sex-for-drugs trial

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2002-01-11

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Girls to testify in sex-for-drugs trial Mother, three men face charges in alleged rape of 13-year-old By CHRIS BRISTOL A 13-year-old girl will testify that she had sex with three men during a party at her mother's Medford apartment last summer and that her mother allowed it to happen simply to score free drugs, a Jackson County jury was told Wednesday. Lynda Hill says she was too drunk to remember what happened, but her co-defendants say they have been falsely accused -- one says he can prove he wasn't even there that night. Hill, 39, faces up to 100 months in prison on a charge of rape for her role in the alleged encounter. Co-defendants Anthony Dewayne Smith, 32, Johnny Lee Carter, 39, and Lamar Esquire McKenzie, 30, face similar time if convicted. Trial got under way Wednesday afternoon after an exhaustive jury selection that began Tuesday morning. The girl is white and all three male defendants are black, prompting defense questions about the racial attitudes of prospective jurors. The entire jury is white. Most are middle-aged or older. At this stage, only one thing is clear: Somebody is lying about what happened that night. It is the jury's task to decide who. The sordid case stems from a party in July at Hill's east Medford apartment. In sometimes-graphic detail, prosecutor Judi Harper said Hill not only prostituted her daughter for free drugs, she even coached the girl at one point. "She actively pushed her daughter into sexual acts to please these three men so they would keep her happy and supplied with drugs," Harper told the jury. Harper said the girl and McKenzie were having sex in a bedroom when Hill interrupted them. "Did Lynda Hill beat the heck out of this guy?" Harper asked the jury. "Did she call the police or throw him out of the house? No. She told them, `Keep it cool. Don't do anything to get anyone in trouble.' Then she turned out the light and shut the door." Although the state's case appears to be heavily dependent on the testimony of the alleged victim, Harper said corroborating evidence backs up the girl's story. Among other things, the girl's 11-year-old sister will testify that she saw her sister fellating McKenzie in a back bedroom, Harper said. Other evidence includes a semen-stained nightshirt the girl was wearing and a photo taken during the party. "If a picture's worth a thousand words, ladies and gentlemen, this one's it," Harper said, describing a photo showing Smith seated next to the girl with his hand "in a spot where his hand had no business being." Defense attorneys for the men said their clients are not guilty, although Smith and Carter admitted smoking cocaine and methamphetamine and receiving oral sex from Hill. "He did not under any circumstances have sexual relations" with the girl, said defense attorney Lawrence Parker, who is representing Smith. Defense attorney Doug Engle said his client, McKenzie, wasn't even in town and that he has evidence to prove it, including witnesses who will testify McKenzie was visiting relatives in Oakland, Calif. Hill can't say what happened because she was too drunk to remember, her attorney said. "She's not going to dispute what her daughter says until she's heard the evidence herself," Hill's defense attorney, Jeni Feinberg, said. "She does not recall what happened." The trial could take a week or more. The girl is expected to testify today. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA