The retrial for a former Beaverton, Ore., police officer accused of raping a 5-year-old girl in April 2013 has gotten underway in Clark County Superior Court.
Christopher R. Warren, 35, of Vancouver faces a charge of first-degree child rape. He was convicted Oct. 31 after a four-day trial during which the alleged victim testified. The jury deliberated for more than six hours before reaching its verdict.
The conviction was thrown out, however, after a juror came forward and admitted to reading a story about the case in The Columbian during the trial. Warren was granted the new trial in January.
Warren is accused of penetrating the girl with a pencil at his central Vancouver home. Under law, rape isn’t limited to intercourse and can include penetration with an object.
In a brief opening statement on Tuesday, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Camara Banfield told jurors that they should focus on the alleged victim’s story. She said the defense would likely present several scenarios in which Warren’s ex-wife, Dina Sanchez, coached the girl into making false allegations. Banfield said there is no evidence to support those claims.
Warren’s defense attorney, Jon McMullen, said Sanchez made up the sexual abuse allegations as a way to exact revenge on Warren. He said Sanchez was bitter because Warren was getting remarried and she wanted to be with him. She was also angry because an Oregon court had awarded Warren primary custody of their three children, he said.
Banfield argued that, although Warren had primary custody, the parents shared an even amount of custody time with their children.
McMullen told the jury that wasn’t true. He said Sanchez had started to violate the custody order and would refuse to return the children on time.
The same argument was used by the defense in Warren’s first trial. He was previously represented by his cousin, Ernest Warren, and Vancouver attorney Louis Byrd Jr.
During opening statements, McMullen also argued that the girl’s story didn’t add up. The alleged abuse reportedly happened in Warren’s living room when his current wife, Meliah Colon, was making dinner in an adjoining kitchen. He said Colon never reported seeing or hearing anything. McMullen said there is no physical evidence to corroborate the girl’s story.
According to The Oregonian, Warren was terminated twice from the Beaverton Police Department.
He was initially fired in 2011 after an internal investigation found he had lied during a 2009 criminal investigation into allegations that he sexually abused a minor when he was 17. Investigators concluded there was probable cause to believe Warren committed the offenses, but he was not prosecuted because the alleged victim declined to cooperate, the newspaper reported.
Warren was later reinstated to his job but was terminated again in August 2013 after he was indicted on charges of welfare fraud in Washington County, Ore., according to The Oregonian. He was found guilty in February 2014 of unlawfully obtaining food stamps and first-degree theft for seeking and accepting Oregon welfare benefits while he was a resident of Washington, and was sentenced to 10 days in jail, two years of probation, 100 hours of community service and $3,000 in restitution.
Warren’s trial continues today in Judge Robert Lewis’ courtroom.
