by Jessica Taloney
Published: Mon, October 19, 2009 - 10:46 am CST
Last Updated: Mon, October 19, 2009 - 6:52 pm CST
MOBILE, Alabama - Testimony resumed Monday morning in the Herman Thomas trial with the ninth accuser taking the stand.The accuser, one of two alleged victims whose semen was found in Circuit Court Judge Herman Thomas' private office, denied knowing how his DNA got there. "It's one of the things they came at me with that totally threw my hair back," he told jurors, recalling how he was approached by investigators about the discovery. "Instead of me being a victim, it seemed like they tried to interrogate me," he said.
The ninth accuser testified he was whipped multiple times by Thomas with a belt in the judge's private 8th floor office, the jury room and the Kappa fraternity house. "I pulled my pants down, so he could see my butt," the accuser said. "I knew what I had to do."
During the cross examination, the accuser denied being sexually abused by the judge despite testifying that he noticed the judge had an erection during one of the whippings. "It wasn't never out of his pants, but you could tell it was hard," the accuser said. "When I saw the hard erection, I knew I didn't want him to paddle me any more," he said.
Defense Attorney Bob Clark asked the accuser about several conflicting statements he made to different investigators. Clark says the ninth accuser denied anything happened until he was visited in jail by Joe Kulakowski, a Mobile attorney who represents several of the alleged victims. The accuser testified Kulakowski visited him on September 12, 2007 and offered him money to make allegations against Judge Thomas. "He tried to lead me to say stuff that was a lie," the accuser testified, while insisting his testimony today is true. "I don't even like being here. I'm just here to testify the truth," he said.
Clark asked the accuser about an interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigations where he told investigators a previous statement was not true. The accuser acknowledged it and admitted he had previously lied. The defense questioning was vague regarding what the accuser said in the previous statement, but prosecutors attempted to elaborate during re-direct. Prosecutors asked the accuser to read from the statement, but Clark objected saying the actual statement was not part of his cross examination. "He is trying to deceive the jurors," the prosecutor told Judge Claud Neilson, a retired Marengo County Judge who is presiding over the case. Judge Nielson dismissed jurors while the attorneys argued over the statement.
Prosecutors say in the statement the accuser denied telling a Mobile police investigator that he was forced to masturbate in Judge Thomas' private office.
Judge Neilson did not allow the accuser to read the statement, and when jurors returned to the courtroom the accuser again denied knowing how his semen, which was discovered by a forensic investigator, got in Thomas' office.
Herman Thomas is charged with more than 70 felony counts including sex abuse, sodomy, kidnapping and extortion. Thomas has denied all of the allegations, which were made by 14 accusers. All of the accusers are expected to testify during the trial.
For updates from inside the courtroom throughout the day, follow me on twitter.
State Drops Case Against Herman Thomas
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