In December 2005, Jackie Don Leroy McGarrah, 36, was bound over for trial on two counts of first-degree rape by instrumentation in connection with the alleged March 2005 assault in his home south of Sallisaw.
In a two-day trial that began Monday, a Sequoyah County jury heard from the girl, now 10, who took the stand to testify, as well as from law enforcement and mental health professionals who treated the girl after the assault and diagnosed her with acute post traumatic stress disorder.
"Justice was done," Kyle Waters, assistant district attorney, said after the verdict.
It took the jury just over two hours to reach their decision in the case. Associate District Judge A.J. Henshaw ordered the pre-sentencing investigation and McGarrah's formal sentencing is set for 9:30 a.m. May 17. McGarrah will remain in the county jail until he is sentenced.
Prosecutors asked the jury to recommend life sentences, but John Sawney, assistant district attorney, said they are satisfied with the decision.
"I respect the jury's decision. I think it's appropriate," he said of the prison sentence recommendations.
When the victim took the stand, she told the jury about what McGarrah did to her on two nights in March 2005 when her brother and mother were sleeping. The incident occurred in her room, which she shared with her now 15-year-old brother, she testified.
"He (McGarrah) touched where he wasn't supposed to," the girl told the jury.
Throughout the trial, McGarrah's attorney, Steve Ramm of Sallisaw, attempted to provide the jury with reasonable doubt about the incident.
The victim also testified that she told her mother what had happened after the first incident. Not until the second incident, which occurred the next night, did the mother report the incident to police. During closing arguments, Ramm questioned whether the mother's behavior made sense.
According to court records, the child was taken to the advocacy center in Sallisaw after a report of child abuse was filed. The child was interviewed by Sallisaw Police Detective Sandra Girdner.
During the video interview, the child told police that on two nights, McGarrah, who she called "dad" but was actually her mother's boyfriend at the time, came into her bedroom and got into her bed with her, and touched her with his hands and finger.
That video was shown to the jury during the trial. During the video, Girdner asked the victim if she knew the difference between the truth and a lie. About what a lie was, the victim said, "A lie is when you lie about something and you say someone is touching you and they aren't really."
During closing arguments, Ramm asked the jury to think about the believability of the girl's story.
During the trial, Dr. Deborah Jennings, psychiatrist at The Prodigy Foundation, testified that when the girl came to her she had acute post traumatic stress disorder. She testified that the girl would cling to her mother and displayed the signs of the disorder, including needing the mother's constant reassurance and being anxious.
Waters asked Jennings whether a girl who was raped would display the same symptoms as the victim, which Jennings replied, "probably."
During closing arguments, Sawney urged the jury to play the tape of the police interview and compare it to the testimony that they heard.
"The question is 'Is she telling the truth?'" Sawney asked. "Another question is, 'Why would she lie?'"
Sawney said where the girl is injured is inside and not on the outside.
"What happened affected her body," Sawney argued. "It affected her."
He said that trial was about proving what was done to the victim, who told what happened to her because it was wrong.
"It's only when a child speaks that we know," he said.
Ramm argued that the evidence presented did not make sense and told the jury that the prosecution has to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that his client committed the crime.
