Steve Sirois, that name sure sounds familar ! Is this Ricky McGinn's Friend ?
Wednesday July 19, 2006 News
Aggravated sexual assault trial begins
By Steve Nash — Brownwood Bulletin
Testimony began Tuesday morning in 35th District Court in the aggravated sexual assault trial of Steve Sirois, 46, of Lake Brownwood.
The state rested late Tuesday afternoon after a day of testimony and defense testimony was to begin this morning.
The prosecution alleges that Sirois assaulted a 12-year-old girl who was the daughter of a family friend in September 2001, and again in February 2004 when the girl was 14.
Sirois was indicted earlier on one count of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault, court records state.
Assistant District Attorney Perry Sims told jurors in his opening statement that the girl, who is now 17, would testify about an ongoing series of encounters between 2001 and 2004. The encounters left the girl “feeling horrible” but she did not know she could say “no” to an adult, Sims told jurors.
The girl reported the abuse to a representative of the Ark shelter who visited her school to talk about reporting abuse, Sims told jurors.
Defense attorney Sidney Lyle of Keller told jurors in his opening statements that evidence would show the encounters did not happen and that Sirois was falsely accused.
“This is a sad case all the way around,” Lyle told jurors. “You’ll see from the evidence that this young girl has had a troubled life. I can show you that it’s reasonable to feel sorry for her and reasonable to feel sympathy for her.”
But evidence will show that people were present on some of the alleged encounters and that they did not see anything happen, Lyle told jurors.
The girl was Sims’ first witness, and she spoke softly, sometimes breaking into tears, when she answered Sims’ questions about Sirois.
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/07/19/news/news03.txt
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UPDATE:
Thursday July 20, 2006
News
Mistrial declared in Sirois case after jurors can’t reach verdict
By Steve Nash — Brownwood Bulletin
District Judge Steve Ellis declared a mistrial Wednesday night in the sexual assault trial of Steve Sirois after jurors were unable to reach a verdict. A retrial is set for Aug. 7.
Sirois, 46, of Lake Brownwood, is accused of molesting the young daughter of a family friend over a period of nearly 2-1/2 years.
Ellis dismissed jurors around 9 p.m. after about 6-1/2 hours of deliberation. Jurors indicated at 6:30 p.m. that they were deadlocked 11-1 in favor of convicting Sirois on all three counts of his indictment, but Ellis told them at that time to keep deliberating.
Sirois was indicted on one count of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault.
The prosecution alleged that Sirois first molested the girl in September 2001, when she was 12, and last molested her in February 2004, just before she turned 15.
After jury selection on Monday, the prosecution began its case Tuesday and rested after a day. The girl told a representative of the Ark shelter that she had been molested when he visited the girl’s school to talk about reporting abuse, testimony showed.
The defense put on a half-day of testimony Wednesday before resting.
Sirois took the stand and denied that he had ever touched the girl inappropriately. The defense maintained that there was no evidence to support the girl’s allegations.
Ellis first tackled the issue of a mistrial at 6:30 p.m., but Assistant District Attorney Perry Sims asked Ellis to instruct jurors to continue deliberating. Defense attorney Sidney Lyle of Keller asked Ellis at that time to declare a mistrial, saying jurors had indicated they were “hopelessly deadlocked.”
Ellis said jurors had not indicated at that time that the deadlock was hopeless and announced that deliberations would continue.
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/07/20/news/news01.txt
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