By Catherine McKnight
A graphic jury trial began on Wednesday morning under Judge Stephen Mock in the case of People v. Ellis. The court heard from key witnesses, including the stepmother and father of Child Doe One. The day ended with testimony from Child Doe One.
Kevin Ellis has been charged with nine counts total. Counts one through three involve lewd and lascivious acts to the child who will be referred to as Child Doe One, counts four through six involve lewd and lascivious acts with Child Doe Two, and the remaining counts involve failure to register as a sexual offender and administering marijuana to a minor.
These alleged acts occurred between August 1, 2008 and July 31, 2009.
In opening statements, Deputy District Attorney Robert Gorman asked the jury to listen to the evidence and participate in the process, especially when Child Does One and Two testify.
DDA Gorman explained in some detail what the jury trial will entail for the next several days. He said when Child Doe One was molested, Child Doe Two was present, and vice versa. These acts occurred in two places: a trailer and a tent that was built by the defendant and where he was currently living. He then cautioned the jury that testimony is going to be graphic, but that will be the nature of this case.
Child Does One and Two, he continued, were molested between 2008 and 2009 and that the first time it was brought to attention was in 2011, while they were living in Indiana. Child Doe One told his cousin, who then told their counselor, and the counselor called the police.
Mr. Gorman described the first time the molestation occurred. He said that Mr. Ellis asked if either of the children were dating, they said no, and he proceeded to put on a pornography DVD for them to watch. He said that both children were then orally copulated. The second time, Mr. Gorman explained that the children were in Mr. Ellis’ tent, where their pants were down and Mr. Ellis manually copulated both children.
To end his opening, Mr. Gorman said that these children did not grow up like the kids in Leave it to Beaver. They did not report this molestation earlier out of fear for Mr. Ellis, that he would be taken away. Mr. Gorman also said that the jury is going to hear from the girls who were molested back in 1995 and will also hear about Mr. Ellis’ conviction, which triggered his requirement to register as a sexual offender.
“You may not like all of the testimony,” such as from the stepmother and father of Child Doe One, but Mr. Gorman said that the jury must focus on what Mr. Ellis did and find him guilty of all charges.
In Deputy Public Defender Joseph Gocke’s opening statement, he repeated the word “fear.”
“Fear is one of mankind’s most powerful emotions.” He went on to say that the allegations do not add up, and asked the jury to “not let fear blind you from the facts.”
Mr. Gocke said that in the recorded interviews that will be shown, there are dramatically different descriptions of material details in the allegations by both children. He went on to say that there are descriptions of unusual, bizarre, material content that cannot simply be mixed up. One accusation from one of the children was that Mr. Ellis was wearing a bra and panties, while the other makes no mention of that. Other accusations involved certain sexual acts one child said happened while the other did not.
Mr. Gocke informed the jury to pay attention at the 17:06 mark on Child Doe One’s recorded interview, where it is stated that he would go to the tent with help on his math homework, even though he was “really scared” of Mr. Ellis.
The court will be hearing from Dr. O’Donohue, he continued. He has a PhD in psychology and is an expert on children and how they report abuse, how they interview, and how they remember specific things. Mr. Gocke said there must have been outside contamination, either from friends, family, or others.
Mr. Gocke said there are three different ways humans communicate information: verbally, paraverbally, and nonverbally. It could be that one of the children or both could honestly believe an inaccurate version of an event, and that if one of the children in 2010 said something while living in Indiana, it does not make sense that it would not be talked about until 2011.
He ended by saying that there are factors pointing to an inaccurate report and that the logical inconsistencies equal the lack of proof of the charges against his client, Mr. Kevin Ellis. “Don’t let fear blind you.”
Mr. Gorman started with evidence, bringing Bryan Barnes to the stand as his first witness. Mr. Barnes has been married to Sara Barnes for 6 years. Mr. Barnes’ child is Child Doe One, and Mrs. Barnes, who prefers Mrs. Ellis, is the stepmother. Kevin Ellis is Sara’s father.
Mr. Barnes said that Mr. Ellis lived with them when they were living in West Sacramento, in July or August of 2009. He said that Mr. Ellis lived in a tent-like structure that he built outside of their house for two weeks or so. He said that he believed he was staying there because he was sick or wanted to be closer to the family.
Mr. Barnes said that his child was 9 or 10 when Mr. Ellis was living on the property. Child Doe Two was living with them as well, because his mother had passed and his father was imprisoned at the time. Child Doe Two is Child Doe One’s cousin. He continued to say that both children would go into the defendant’s tent but he said he does not remember if all three of them were ever alone in the tent.
In February of 2010, Mr. Barnes said that he and the family left to go to Indiana, where they lived for ten months. After the ten months, they came back to West Sacramento.
While they were in Indiana, Mr. Barnes said they learned of what happened with his child. He learned from his niece that Mr. Ellis had been touching his child in inappropriate ways.
“What did you do?” asked Mr. Gorman. Mr. Barnes said that it was a difficult situation. As a father, he said, he is supposed to protect his children, but he did not want to report it because he did not want to put his child through this process.
When he spoke with his child, Mr. Barnes was told that his child was orally copulated by Mr. Ellis. Mrs. Ellis, his wife, had told him after this occurred that her father molested others, when she was a child.
On cross-examination, Mr. Gocke asked Mr. Barnes who Janette Schafer is. Mr. Barnes said that is Mr. Ellis’ ex-wife, his wife’s mother.
Mr. Gocke also pointed out that they have five children altogether and that no other children had allegations against Mr. Ellis, and that he would assume this was upsetting news.
On re-direct, Mr. Gorman asked Mr. Barnes if both children were ever alone with Mr. Ellis at the residence with the trailer, and he said not that he could recall.
The witness was excused and Sara Barnes, who goes by Sara Ellis, was called to the stand. The defendant, Kevin Ellis, is her father.
On direct, Ms. Ellis said that they moved to the West Sacramento location in August of 2009. She said that Child Doe Two came to live with them around March of 2008. She also said that both children went to Mr. Ellis’ trailer a few times, where they were left alone. She said that her stepchild stayed the night in the trailer once.
“Did you know about your father’s past of child molestation?” asked Mr. Gorman. She responded, “Absolutely.” She said that her father was her best friend, though, and they actually moved to Sacramento to be closer to him. She went on to say that she did not have a reason not to trust him.
She said that while they were living in Indiana, as Mr. Barnes said, was when she learned that something happened between her stepchild and Mr. Ellis. “Did you ask him any details?” asked Mr. Gorman. She said that they did not discuss details, but that her stepchild confirmed the allegation.
Ms. Ellis also said that she had mentioned to her stepchild before that Mr. Ellis had done “something bad” to her friends when she was 11. She also said what she knew about what happened between her stepchild and Mr. Ellis, and she said that Mr. Ellis orally copulated her stepchild.
On cross-examination, Mr. Gocke asked about her father’s relationship with her mother, Janette Schafer, to get at possible outside contamination when it came to the children’s interviews.
She said that her mother told her stepchild to be careful “because he’s not a good man” and that she “worried everyday for her grandchildren.” Ms. Ellis said that it was long before she married Mr. Barnes that she told the children that there is something from Mr. Ellis’ past and to “pay attention.”
Mr. Gocke also asked her if there are times when children describe events differently, which makes it difficult to decipher what actually occurred, and she responded, “of course.”
Lastly, Mr. Gocke asked if she understood the effects of marijuana and she said she did. He then asked, during any of the times the children were picked up, whether or not they appeared to be under the effects. She said not that she could recall.
After lunch, Child Doe One was called to the stand. On direct, the jury learned that the child is now a teenager, 15 years old, and in the ninth grade. Mr. Gorman asked on direct if he remembered ever being at Kevin Ellis’ trailer in the country, and he said yes. One time, he was left alone with him. There was also a time when he was left with Child Doe Two, his cousin. Child Doe One went on to say that most of the times, it was he and his cousin with Mr. Ellis, but that it was just he and Mr. Ellis once, when he had spent the night.
At first, he said he did not remember what happened when it was just the two of them. When it was the three of them, Mr. Ellis was touching his private parts and Mr. Ellis told him not to tell anyone because he would get in trouble.
Mr. Gorman asked him to describe how the alleged incidents occurred or in what order. Child Doe One said that they were talking outside, and then they went into the trailer, and they were not looking or watching anything. Mr. Gorman then asked him to think of the interview that was conducted.
This part of the testimony became increasingly more difficult for Child Doe One to speak of. He said he was orally copulated by Mr. Ellis, in other terms. He said that Mr. Ellis kept asking, so he just said yes. He does not remember how long it happened and that he was scared, which is why he did not tell him to stop.
Child Doe One said he does not believe that his cousin was present that time. He also said that Mr. Ellis did have clothes on. Mr. Gorman was alluding to the fact that, in the interviews, it was said that at some point Mr. Ellis was in a bra and panties. To continue about that time in the trailer, he said that he spent the night and Child Doe One admitted that Mr. Ellis “let him smoke pot.” Before then, he said he had never tried touching him before.
After that night, Child Doe One had told his cousin that Mr. Ellis allowed him to smoke marijuana, and his cousin wanted to try. They both eventually went back, and were left with Mr. Ellis alone. He said he wanted them to masturbate themselves. After that, he said that Mr. Ellis put on a pornography DVD. He also said that he did not see his cousin or Mr. Ellis masturbating, and that Child Doe One was in the bathroom with the door closed.
Child Doe One said that was the only time his cousin was with him in the trailer, that he could recall. Mr. Gorman then asked about the West Sacramento address, when he would visit Mr. Ellis in the tent. He said that it was all three of them a couple of times, and that he would get help with his math homework from Mr. Ellis. He was in the fifth grade at this time, and his cousin was in the fourth.
Child Doe One went on to describe another incident in the tent, when Mr. Ellis was on his hands and knees, asking if either of the children would perform a sexual act with him. He said that his cousin did not try, but he did, and then stopped because he did not want to do it. He then said that Mr. Ellis showed him a photo on a camera of Mr. Ellis performing a sexual act with miscellaneous items. He repeated that his cousin did not do anything with Mr. Ellis.
“Did anything else happen in the tent?” asked Mr. Gorman. Child Doe One said that on another day, Mr. Ellis masturbated him and his cousin.
Mr. Gorman then brought up Indiana, when these allegations arose. Child Doe One said he had wanted to tell someone, so he ended up telling a cousin. He also was asked if Sara, his stepmother, had ever mentioned her father to him and he said she did, but had no details of what was said.
On cross-examination, defense questioned Child Doe One about whether he was afraid of Kevin. He responded, “yes.” They talked about the incidents in both the trailer and the tent. Mr. Gocke mentioned that after two incidents, he still went to Mr. Ellis for help with his math homework. Child Doe One said he did not scream when he was in the tent while Mr. Ellis was asking both of them to perform sexual acts because he was scared.
The court day finished early, and will resume Thursday morning with testimony from Child Doe Two, and recorded interviews conducted of both children.
