WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. -
A trial started today for a former Windsor County Sheriff's Deputy who found himself on the wrong side of the law.
57 year old Richard Kelley is accused of two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child.
Kelley sat in court Monday in front of a jury that will determine his fate. Whether he's a free man, spend 2 years in prison... or 15. The former sheriff's deputy is accused of inappropriately touching a female child, exposing himself and offering to buy the child sex toys for years.
"He walked her into the bedroom; he bent her over the bed," Prosecuting attorney Ultan Doyle said.
In the opening statement from the defense, the attorney asked the jury for patience when being presented the evidence.
"We think that if you do, that you're going to see that they're littered with contradictions that really don't make a whole lot of sense," Defense attorney Brian Marsicovetere said.
The state has a handful of witnesses ready to testify... the trooper who responded to the reported abuse, the victim's mother and the now teenage victim.
"It's going to be hard for a child to pinpoint an exact date, especially if it's happened more than one occasion," Doyle said.
The defense plans to call the ex-deputy himself up to the stand.
"His family had become so dysfunctional and the environment it created to spawn these false allegations," Marsicovetere said.
So far, the jury has only heard half a day's worth of arguments though, because several factors stalled the trial's start. Misleading jury instructions gave the defense enough reason to request a mistrial, arguing a question asked interfered with their ability to get a fair trial. After re-questioning the jury pool, the trial did move forward. Then the defense asked that some evidence be dismissed. Some of it was. This trial could last through the end of the week.
