Jurors watch tape of Duhon's police interview
Last Modified: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:57 AM
By Taylor Prejean / American Press
Jurors in the aggravated rape trial of Brandon Keith Duhon on Wednesday saw his videotaped police interview.
Duhon, 33, is accused of having sexual contact with an 8-year-old boy. He opted for a jury trial during a Tuesday plea-change hearing.
In the police interview, Duhon vehemently denied having any sexual contact with the victim.
The victim’s grandmother testified previously that she learned of the alleged sexual abuse when she caught the victim attempting to have sexual contact with a family member. When she asked him how he knew about the act, he said, “Brandon did it to me.”
In the interview, Lake Charles police Detective Joe Savoie asked Duhon why the child would make such a claim.
“I have no earthly idea. I have no idea,” Duhon said.
Savoie told Duhon that the victim had anal tears and described what Duhon allegedly did to him to investigators in “graphic detail.”
Duhon said repeatedly that he never touched the boy and offered to give blood or DNA samples to exclude him as a suspect.
No DNA evidence was introduced as of Wednesday.
In her opening statement, prosecutor Cynthia Guillory said she will prove that “the defendant violated the greatest trust that a child has for an adult; he took his innocence.”
She said there will be no eyewitnesses to the offense other than the victim, but such crimes are perpetrated in isolation.
Defense attorney King Alexander said the evidence is not sufficient to justify a conviction in the case.
“If this evidence is enough to convict this man, none of us is safe,” Alexander told jurors.
He said testimony will show that no semen was collected and the child’s anal tear was merely one-quarter of a centimeter in length.
Alexander said the victim implicated other people in the household of committing similar acts in his Child Advocacy Center interview, making it unclear who actually perpetrated the alleged abuse.
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