A Clark County judge has ordered a new trial for former Beaverton, Ore., police Officer Christopher Warren, who was found guilty Oct. 31 of raping a 5-year-old girl with a pencil.
Judge Barbara Johnson declared a mistrial in the case Dec. 23 following a revelation that a juror went against the judge’s instructions and read The Columbian’s coverage of Warren’s trial. The juror, Craig Bowen, came forward after the trial and admitted in an emotional testimony to the judge Nov. 6 that the content of the article he read influenced his decision to find Warren guilty. He also said he had misgivings about the verdict.
Johnson ordered the new trial Wednesday and scheduled it for Feb. 9 in her courtroom.
However, Warren’s attorney, Louis Byrd Jr., indicated that he may file a motion for a change of venue for the trial because of local publicity surrounding the case.
“Mr. Warren has to worry about the prejudice associated with publicity,” Byrd said.
“Exploration of a change of venue is realistic in this case,” he said later in a brief interview with The Columbian.
Johnson on Wednesday set Warren’s new bail at $500,000, double the amount of his bail before his conviction.
“The conduct of the jury was to enter a unanimous verdict of guilty, which does change the circumstances in terms of what the defendant may be contemplating in terms of jeopardy in the case, so I think there is a basis for increasing what was previously set,” Johnson said.
Warren had been free on a $250,000 bond pending his first trial but was taken into custody Oct. 31 when the jury found him guilty. He has been in jail custody since then.
He appeared in court Wednesday wearing orange jail clothes and shackles and had longer hair.
Warren’s wife, Meliah Colon, said that she didn’t yet know if the family would be able to post bail this time.
Warren was convicted 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 Warren’s ex-wife, Dina Sanchez, coached the girl into making the rape allegations because she was bitter over Warren’s decision to divorce her and to be with another woman.
Warren had recently become engaged to Colon at the time the allegations were made.
Byrd said there were several inconsistencies in the information the girl gave to authorities, which should create reasonable doubt.
For example, the girl said she never told Sanchez about the abuse, yet Sanchez initially reported the crime to authorities, Byrd said.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Camara 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 Warren raped her.
