John Finney, 23, is charged with rape by instrumentation and sexual battery of a 16-year-old. He was arrested and booked into the Sequoyah County Jail in Sallisaw in July and was being held on a $50,000 bond, according to jail records. On Monday the judge reduced that bond to $30,000 until there is confirmation that Finney has a previous felony conviction in another state.
Kyle Waters, assistant district attorney, requested the continuance because a third girl present at the scene hasn't been interviewed and is a potential victim, and his office has not yet received a copy of Finney's former felony convictions.
John Sawney, Finney's attorney, objected to the continuance, saying that Finney has already been in jail about 60 days and he is ready to go forward. He asked for Finney's bond to be lowered if the case was continued.
Special District Judge Dennis Sprouse lowered the bond, but warned the defense that if the prosecution added another count, another $15,000 would be added to the bond.
Sprouse told Waters that if he was not ready to go forward with the case on Oct. 17, he was going to drop the charges.
According to court records, the 16-year-old told police that Finney was her father's friend and was staying in her home on July 2. She told police that Finney came into her bedroom while she and two of her friends were getting ready to go to sleep. The girl allegedly told Finney to leave her room, but he wouldn't. The girls then went to sleep, and the victim told police that she woke up to find Finney touching her inappropriately.
The girl kicked Finney away from her and eventually left the home with one of her friends and went to a next door neighbor's home to wait for Finney to leave.
The victim's friend who left the home with the victim told police that Finney also touched her inappropriately.
