A Garland County Circuit Court jury took only seven minutes Wednesday to convict a Hot Springs man of rape in a 2013 home invasion case and later sentenced him to life in prison after a one-day trial.
The nine-man, three-woman jury deliberated for about 23 minutes before recommending the maximum sentence for James Eugene Sharp, 33, after hearing testimony from a second alleged rape victim, a 12-year-old girl whose 2016 case against Sharp is still pending. DNA from the second case led to Sharp's arrest in the 2013 rape.
"This was every woman's worst nightmare and it happened here in Garland County," Deputy Prosecutor Kara Petro, who represented the state along with Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joe Graham, said Thursday.
"It gives you chills thinking about it," Petro said, noting the victim, who was 46 at the time, was a stranger to Sharp when he entered her apartment through a window in the middle of the night on Sept. 25, 2013, and "she woke up with him standing over her with his hand covering her mouth."
The victim testified she had fallen asleep watching television "so the only light in the room was from the television," Petro said, but she saw her attacker was armed with "a long skinny tool of some kind," possibly a crowbar or something he could use to stab her.
She said the man threatened to kill her if she screamed or resisted and told her, "You know what I'm here for." He then made her stand up and undress and forced her to perform oral sex, Petro said, then had her get back on the bed and raped her. Afterward, the victim asked if she could clean up and he followed her into the bathroom.
"He watched as she washed off and then he took the wash cloth and cleaned up too," Petro said, leaving the cloth behind. The cloth, the victim's panties and a rape kit later obtained at the hospital were all submitted to the state crime lab for analysis and while semen was found and they were able to get DNA, it couldn't be matched to anyone in the DNA database at that time.
Petro said the victim noticed Sharp wasn't wearing pants and commented about it and he told her he left them in another room. She followed him into the room and his pants and underwear were on the floor under the window and Petro noted it was later determined that was the window he had used to make entry.
He finally allowed her to get dressed and then left, Petro said, but not before telling the victim he would come back and kill her if she told anyone what had happened. As soon as he left, the victim locked the door behind him and then hid in a closet where she first called her sister, who lives out of state.
"She stayed on the line with her sister and had her call 911," Petro said, noting the sister and her husband had trouble getting an immediate response to the situation because they were calling from another state. The sister told the victim to call 911 herself "but she was scared to hang up because she was afraid he would come back," Petro said.
"Her sister finally had to get forceful with her and make her hang up and call," she said, noting the resulting 16-minute 911 call from the victim, which the jurors listened to, was "one of the most frantic, terrified calls you'll ever hear. She was hyperventilating at that point."
The victim was so scared her attacker was still watching, she told the 911 dispatcher to have the responding officer not wear his gun or other equipment that would identify him as police, Petro said, and "immediately locked the door behind him after she let him in."
She said the victim wouldn't get into the ambulance until the officer got in with her for the ride to the hospital.
Sharp had claimed the victim consented to the sexual encounter but "then said he didn't remember having sex with her," Petro said, but noted doctors who examined the victim confirmed there was "vaginal tearing" and other injuries consistent with force being used.
Graham said Sharp testified that his "baby's mama" lived in the same apartments as the victim and admitted he would sometimes "wait outside her apartment for her to get home." He also admitted he grew up in that area and was "very familiar" with that apartment complex.
Sharp was arrested May 10, 2016, in connection with the alleged rape of the 12-year-old and had remained in custody since then on zero bond. Graham said Sharp is set to stand trial on that rape charge Aug. 15 and is set to stand trial Oct. 23 on additional felony charges of video voyeurism involving the 12-year-old and domestic battery involving his wife.
Asked if he still planned to try those cases in light of Sharp's life sentence, which by Arkansas law means he is not eligible for parole, Graham said, "We will have to sit down with the other victims and make a decision on how to proceed."
Graham said he would like to avoid making the juvenile victim testify again, but stressed "if it wasn't for the minor victim coming forward this case would never have been solved."
According to the affidavit on the juvenile's alleged rape, on May 9, 2016, Garland County sheriff's investigators received information from the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline about the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl by a known suspect, identified as Sharp.
The next day, the juvenile was interviewed at the Cooper Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center, and said Sharp had molested her numerous times between the ages of 11 and 12. She also alleged that while she was in a bathroom, she saw Sharp's cellphone over the shower curtain and believed he was recording video.
Investigators reportedly learned Sharp was attempting to flee to Georgia to avoid arrest and took him into custody at a local motel that same afternoon.
According to the affidavit on the battery charge, on April 29, 2016, Sharp's wife said she was told Sharp had sexually abused a 12-year-old girl, but when she confronted him he denied the allegations.
On May 9, 2016, the wife said Sharp asked her if she would ride with him to pick up a check, which she agreed to do. During the drive, she said Sharp accused her of cheating on him and struck her several times. He later drove down a dirt road, assaulted her again and threatened to kill her if she reported the alleged sexual abuse of the girl.
His wife was observed to have bruising on her left breast, upper left arm, left forearm, left hip, left knee and left shin.
It was determined the video of the girl was uploaded to Sharp's email account and, on May 17, 2016, a search warrant was executed on the account. On June 5, 2016, investigators received a CD from Google containing four videos of a girl while undressing, which was identified as the 12-year-old. The voyeurism charges were filed June 16.
On June 27, 2016, a report from the crime lab determined the DNA submitted from the 2013 rape matched DNA from Sharp submitted by sheriff's investigators in the rape of the 12-year-old. The second rape charge was filed against Sharp on Aug. 15, 2016.
Local on 06/23/2017