by Tiffany Yeh
The trial of Edward Hendrix resumed Thursday morning, January 14. Mr. Hendrix is charged with a lewd act on a minor under 14 years old. The alleged victim, “Sam,” resumed her testimony, with a victim advocate sitting quietly by her side.
Sam stated that on October 10, 2014, she was to get to her cheerleading coach’s house at 8:00 or 8:30pm for a sleepover with cheerleading friends. Her coach was at a cheerleading event and would not be at the house before possibly 8:00pm, so Sam thought she got there around 8:30pm, but she admitted later that it must have been earlier, as her texts from the house would reveal.
Her grandmother drove her to the cheerleading coach’s house. Sam brought her cell phone, charger and pajamas with her to the house. Sam did not hear any noise coming from the house, only some faint music. The screen door was closed but the front door was open. A truck was parked outside the house.
The coach’s fiancé, Mr. Hendrix, opened the door and greeted them and invited both Sam and her grandmother in.
Sam called her cheerleading coach to let her know she had arrived at her house, and the coach responded saying that she would be there in ten or fifteen minutes. On the phone, she sounded normal but “like she was being a little rushed.”
Her grandmother left when “she thought it was okay,” according to Sam.
Hendrix, fully clothed with shirt and pants on, told Sam that she was free to watch TV in the living room and handed her the remote, and he walked down the hallway into a bedroom. Sam sat on the couch texting her friends and chose not to watch TV.
She said that about two or three minutes after her grandmother left, Hendrix came back to the living room but did not have a shirt on. Sam stated that she “felt uncomfortable” and that she had never met him before that night.
He then went to the kitchen and drank a shot glass amount of some alcohol that was stored in the freezer. Then he put the bottle back into the freezer.
While in the kitchen, he asked her if she liked cheerleading and how old she was. He asked her to stand up, and she did. At this moment, Sam felt “very uncomfortable.” He told her that she had a nice body for a 12-year-old.
He then walked to the very front of the hallway off of the living room. The living room and kitchen were connected.
He asked her to walk toward him and give him a hug. She did so even though she “still felt uncomfortable.” She stated that she was going to say no to the hug but didn’t know if he had a weapon on him. He looked “loopy” and she also smelled something else besides alcohol on him. She could not describe, at the time, what the smell was.
She said she was scared that if she didn’t hug him he was going to hurt her. He hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, and grabbed her butt. As he did so, he did not say anything.
He asked her if they were going to do this, that they had ten minutes. He took off his belt.
She said no. Sam stated that she “got really scared” and backed away from him. He let her go.
He said that he thought she wanted this and that she was giving him the wrong impression. He apologized and then said, “Here, give me a pinky promise you won’t tell anyone.” She did pinky promise him.
He went back into the bedroom afterward.
Five or ten minutes later, the cheerleading coach came back home and greeted Sam and showed her where her youngest daughter’s room was, where she would be sleeping for the night.
Another one of the coach’s daughters was crying for some reason during the night.
Sam went to the youngest daughter’s room and texted two of her friends about what had happened. The first text she had sent to one of her friends was at 7:47pm and the last text she sent was at 8:31pm.
A text she sent at 7:53 pm read: “So I’m staying the night at coach s—‘s house.. She’s not here.. Her husband (I think) is trying to have sex with me.. Like he’s like stand up and he’s like “damn your nice for a 12 year old” and I’m like thanks then he hugged me and grabbed my ass and kissed me and he’s like “so what are we gonna do?” And I’m like huh and…
And he’s like “that ain’t got nothing to do with this, okay I gotta condem.”
Sam described herself as “tearing up,” on the verge of tears almost.
She texted her best friend, who recommended she call her grandma or mother. Sam knew that her mother and stepdad were at work so there was no point in calling them. Her best friend, a friend of her best friend, and that girl’s mother came and picked Sam up.
They went to McDonald’s for ice cream and then the friend’s mother dropped Sam off at Sam’s house. The whole way, there was silence in the car.
Sam was going to tell her cheerleading coach about what happened, but later.
The cheerleading coach picked her up from the AMPM on the next morning, a Saturday. There was a cheerleading event that day. Sam told three of her friends about what happened and showed them her texts (one friend had already known because Sam had texted her the previous night.)
Someone either eavesdropped or told other people because now the whole cheer squad knew about it.
At a parking lot outside the cheerleading event, Sam told a different cheerleading coach about what happened, and that coach looked shocked, and then that coach and Sam told the cheerleading coach about what her fiancé had done.
The coach’s face and tone of voice showed that she was shocked. She screamed, “What!” She cried a little and continued to be upset.
Sam then called her own mother and explained what happened.
That night, one of her friends gave her a ride home. When Sam went home, her mother was waiting for her on the front porch. They talked about what happened.
That evening, Sam’s mother, grandmother and Sam went to the police station to report what happened. However, it was not open so Sam’s mother reported what happened to the red phone. Sam’s grandmother was standing outside by the car while Sam was inside the car.
When they got home, Sam’s aunt, cousin, cousin’s girlfriend and her stepdad were at home. Her stepdad yelled and was upset that Sam had not told them what happened that Friday night, instead of waiting until the next night to tell them.
Sam finished that cheer season but decided not to do post-season cheerleading.
About two weeks after October 10, 2014, Sam did a multi-disciplinary interview (MDI) with someone from the police. The whole interview was recorded. She was told that her mother would not be watching.
The defense cross-examined Sam, asking her about previous boyfriends. The race of those boyfriends came up. Deputy Public Defender Dan Hutchinson mentioned that most of them were white or at least looked white. One of her boyfriends was German, the other half Caucasian and half Mexican, and another Mexican.
He asked her about her opinion of black people and the variation of the “n” word used at her middle school. She explained that many people used the variation, the word “n–” to other people they knew, friends.
There were other questions pointedly aiming at her overprotective mother. Others were about her knowledge of sex and her physical relationship with her boyfriends.
Her experience until now, at the age of 14, consisted of kissing, French kissing, hugging, and holding hands. She stated that she has never had hickeys but knows what they look like. Mr. Hutchinson has a piece of information from the interview about hickeys that he will probably discuss during the afternoon session on January 14 .
