Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9502010049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The case involves what is believed to be the youngest victim of a sexual crime in recent Roanoke history.
Reiko L. Smith, 19, admitted having anal sex with the 18-month-old boy, whom he was baby-sitting last March at a Northwest Roanoke home. Smith earlier had pleaded no contest to a charge of sodomy and was scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday. Defense attorney Deborah Caldwell-Bono asked for a delay to allow a psychiatric evaluation of Smith.
Roanoke Circuit Richard Pattisall granted a continuance and allowed Smith to remain free on bond, over the objections of prosecutors.
"This is a serious case," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Gardner argued. "We're talking about the forcible sodomy of an 18-month-old boy; we're not talking about a traffic case."
Gardner had planned to call a doctor and a nurse as witnesses Tuesday to tell about internal injuries the baby suffered as a result of the crime, but their testimony was delayed until the new sentencing date, March 14.
After Smith pleaded no contest to the sodomy charge in December, Pattisall agreed to delay a final decision on the degree of guilt, allowing the possibility of a conviction on a lesser charge.
But Gardner will argue that Smith should be convicted of sodomy, which carries a sentence of five years to life in prison.
Several Roanoke prosecutors said they could not recall another sexual abuse case involving a victim as young as 18 months.
Even if a young victim is able to explain an offense, a judge must first qualify the child to testify in court - meaning that the child understands the difference between telling the truth and a lie. In most cases, the child has to be about 5 years old before he or she can be qualified to testify.
Because the 18-month-old was not able to tell what had happened to him last March 25 - much less be qualified - the case against Smith consisted almost entirely of a confession he made to police.
According to a summary of evidence presented in court earlier, this is what happened:
After leaving her son in Smith's care, the victim's mother later returned to the apartment and found the door locked. Smith did not let her in right away, she told authorities. When she was let inside, she saw her son, naked, standing in the stairway.
He seemed to be acting strangely, she said, and would not come to her when she called.
Later, the child began to scream when she patted him on the behind. Rescue workers were called, and the child was taken to Community Hospital, where doctors found evidence that he had been sexually abused.
When Smith later was confronted by police, he readily admitted having sex with the 18-month-old. "He's been very cooperative with police from the beginning," Caldwell-Bono said.
Smith did not speak during Tuesday's hearing, and he left with his parents afterward.
Because Smith had missed a Jan. 6 appointment with a psychiatrist and said nothing about it until the eve of his sentencing, Gardner had asked Pattisall to send him to jail to await sentencing.
The judge at first seemed skeptical with an explanation by Smith's mother that bad weather cancelled the appointment. "It better be true," he warned, "and if it isn't, some folks are going to jail in a hurry."
But after a telephone call confirmed that the office was, in fact, closed that day, Pattisall agreed to allow Smith to remain free on bond until the March 14 sentencing date.
by CNB