Former Beaverton, Ore., police Officer Christopher Warren’s new child rape trial has been delayed until June 22. A different judge also will preside over the proceedings.
Last month, Warren was granted a new trial in Clark County Superior Court after a juror came forward and admitted to reading a story about the case in The Columbian during the trial in October. Juror Craig Bowen admitted that the content of the article influenced his decision to find Warren guilty and that he later had misgivings about his role in the unanimous verdict.
A group of community members recently donated money to hire a new attorney for Warren’s second trial, which was set for Feb. 9 in front of Judge Barbara Johnson. Vancouver attorney Jon McMullen was retained to take over the defense from Vancouver attorney Louis Byrd Jr. and Portland attorney Ernest Warren, who is Christopher Warren’s first cousin, once removed.
McMullen had asked for more time to prepare for trial. Johnson scheduled a hearing for Monday to consider his request. She also transferred the case to Judge Robert Lewis because she is retiring March 31.
Lewis heard Monday’s proceedings. He scheduled the new date for the trial, despite opposition from Senior Deputy Prosecutor Camara Banfield.
“As you can see, this has been very stressful for that family, having that conviction and then having to go back, so we were hoping to have a trial much sooner than June,” Banfield said.
Christopher Warren was convicted Oct. 31 following a four-day trial during which the alleged victim testified on the stand. The jury deliberated for more than six hours before reaching its verdict.
During closing arguments, Byrd claimed that Christopher Warren’s ex-wife, Dina Sanchez, coached the girl into making the rape allegations because she was bitter over his decision to divorce her and to be with another woman.
Warren had recently become engaged to former high school classmate Meliah Colon at the time the allegations were made.
Byrd said there were several inconsistencies in the information the girl gave to authorities, which should present reasonable doubt.
For example, the girl said she never told Sanchez about the abuse, yet Sanchez initially reported the crime to authorities, Byrd said.
Banfield argued that the girl’s account was consistent throughout the investigation and trial. She said footage of a forensic interview of the girl in May 2013 at the Clark County Children’s Justice Center also showed that the girl wasn’t coached or influenced to claim that Christopher Warren raped her.
Banfield is one of five judicial applicants seeking Johnson’s position on Superior Court. Gov. Jay Inslee is scheduled to announce his appointee for the position in mid-March, his general counsel, Nick Brown, has said.
Warren remains in the Clark County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.
