Rape case from 1994 to be retried
Guilty verdict reversed by 9th U.S. Circuit Court
EPHRATA — The Grant County Prosecutor's Office decided in April to retry a high-profile 1994 child rape case, which ended in a guilty verdict, but was recently reversed by a federal appeals court.
Arthur Alford Nelson, 59, was convicted by a Grant County jury in February 1995, after being accused by authorities of raping his 3-year-old granddaughter on numerous occasions while they were living in Mattawa, according to court documents.
Nelson completed an exceptional sentence of 12 years for the crime, and was scheduled to be released Monday. Instead, Nelson sits in Grant County Jail with an Aug. 29 trial date, again facing charges of first-degree rape of a child, the documents state.
In March of this year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded Nelson's public defender in the first trial, Thomas Earl, was incompetent. They reversed the conviction after determining Earl was ineffective enough to impact the outcome of the trial. Earl was eventually disbarred in 2004, after being accused of accepting improper payments from indigent clients.
"Had the jury heard all of the testimony, properly cross-examined by both parties, it appears to us that there would have been a reasonable probability that the jury would have been left with reasonable doubt and thus would have returned a different verdict," the court wrote.
"We therefore conclude that Nelson's counsel provided ineffective assistance that prejudiced his defense, and that the state court determinations to the contrary were unreasonable."
The state Court of Appeals in Spokane and state Supreme Court in Olympia affirmed the Grant County Superior Court decision. The U.S. District Court, in Yakima, determined Earl was well below the required level of "professionally competent assistance," but did not effect the outcome.
The federal appeals court said Earl's poor performance definitely influenced the outcome. The overturned conviction left Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell with two choices: retry the case or simply dismiss it.
Knodell chose to retry the case. If dismissed, Nelson would walk away with no criminal record and escape any requirements to be supervised or registered as a sex offender, Knodell said.
Because of the original sentence, Nelson would not likely return to jail if convicted. Still, Knodell will seek to extend Nelson's prison sentence, if found guilty.
"This is all necessary to ensure public safety," Knodell said Thursday. "This little girl is entitled to justice."
Defense attorney David Kraft said the second trial could also end in a hung jury, leaving the door open for a third trial.
"The chances of him getting an even more strenuous, exceptional sentence is practically non-existent," Kraft said. "He served significantly more than the maximum was supposed to be the first time."
Following what he learned was a completely unfair trial in 1995, Kraft plans a totally revamped defense strategy in August, hoping to clear Nelson's name.
"It's our position that the incident never occurred at all," Kraft said of the alleged rape.
"That happens to be the truth, and we have doctors who will testify to that," he said.
During the first trial, Earl acknowledged the girl was raped.
"We're in the process of interviewing all the witnesses in the case," Kraft said. "We (are) going to interview the state's witnesses and all of the defense witnesses that weren't called (to testify) the first time."
The defense attorney said his client, whose health has been a continuous question mark, is currently in "pretty bad" physical condition.
"He's an old man. He's totally disabled and he's in a wheelchair," Kraft said. "He has a lot of different health problems and needs a lot of different types of surgery."
Despite his client's health, Kraft said he doesn't anticipate Nelson receiving the surgeries before the scheduled trial date.