Juvenile transfer denied for Little Rock man accused of rape

Alexander Speed
Alexander Speed

A judge denied a 20-year-old Little Rock man's request to be prosecuted in juvenile court on rape allegations after prosecutors argued Thursday that he could be held by juvenile authorities only until he turns 21, four months away.

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Alexander Deonta Speed turns 21 in September. He's accused of regularly raping a girl, now 17, beginning when she was 8 until she was 14.

Speed's attorney, Willard Proctor, argued that since his client is accused of committing the crimes as a minor, he was eligible to be prosecuted as a juvenile.

Proctor said Speed should not be penalized because his accuser did not step forward until July 2015, when Speed was 19, despite having years of opportunities to tell teachers, family, friends and authorities what was going on. Speed was arrested in August.

"It's not my client's fault that the individual waited until last year to bring these allegations," Proctor said.

But Circuit Judge Barry Sims denied Speed's motion to transfer the case to juvenile court after a two-hour hearing that included the girl's testimony in which she said Speed, whom she knows as AJ, had raped her at least twice a month for years, almost always by sneaking into her bedroom and waking her up by raping or sodomizing her.

"He would wake me up by doing the things he did," she said.

Although he's charged with raping her through January 2013, she testified that he continued the sexual abuse until January 2015. She testified she did not know why she did not tell anyone about what was going on sooner.

"I didn't know the outcome of what was going to happen," she said, acknowledging that she had previously denied being subjected to forced sexual contact by Speed when her mother had asked. "I didn't want anyone to know."

The judge said Speed's criminal history factored into his decision to deny the transfer to juvenile court. That criminal behavior shows Speed did not appear to be acting like a child, he said.

Speed has been on probation since last June, when he pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor drug-possession charges in exchange for five years on probation.

"I don't think there is anything over at juvenile to help this young man," the judge said.

In that case, Speed was arrested Jan. 30, 2015, on Geyer Springs Road after a late-night traffic stop for having no license tag light. He had a loaded pistol hidden in his pants, and police found cocaine and marijuana in the vehicle, court records show.

Prosecutors dropped the gun charge in exchange for his guilty plea, and he was required to undergo drug treatment and random testing while on probation.

Deputy prosecutor Luke Daniel also asked the judge to consider drug-possession allegations filed against Speed three months after his Geyer Springs Road arrest.

The prosecutor asked the judge not to be swayed by testimony from Speed's uncle, Byron, that the defendant is immature and childlike.

"He's out on the street acting like a drug dealer," Daniel told the judge. "That's not what a child does. That's what an adult does."

Speed is awaiting trial on those charges.

According to a report, Speed was arrested April 5, 2015, at 6201 Colonel Glenn Road after police stopped him for careless and prohibited driving. The arresting officer reported smelling marijuana in the car and said Speed handed over a marijuana cigarette while police found a pill bottle containing prescription drugs, including a felony amount of hydrocodone, five tablets.

Daniel also told the judge that Speed twice faced drug charges as a minor, but authorities dropped those cases because they could find neither Speed nor his father to get them to court.

Tabitha Carter, the Little Rock detective who arrested Speed on the rape charge, said she got an arrest warrant after talking to a witness who had seen Speed go into the girl's bedroom at night and learned from her mother that the girl had her own bedroom.

With testimony that Pulaski County has a renowned program to treat and rehabilitate juvenile sex offenders, Speed's attorney argued that his client should be transferred to juvenile court, despite being so close to his 21st birthday.

If Sims designated the case as an extended juvenile jurisdiction proceeding, the juvenile judge could order Speed to complete the sex-offender program as a condition of his probation, Proctor suggested.

Daniel, the prosecutor, questioned how realistic a scenario Proctor was offering Sims. With juvenile authorities losing jurisdiction the day Speed turns 21, it's unrealistic to think that the defendant can go through the necessary steps to get into the sex-offender program by September, Daniel said.

Just transferring the rape case to juvenile court and getting Speed before a juvenile judge could take up to a month, the prosecutor said.

If Speed continues to dispute the girl's accusation in juvenile court, it could take months to resolve that by trial, then weeks more to get him enrolled in the offender program, which takes anywhere from two months to a year to complete, the prosecutor said.

Proctor asked the judge to consider whether the girl was a credible accuser, given her combative nature when the defense attorney cross-examined her about inconsistencies in her account and the length of time it took to make her accusations.

Proctor said he would appeal the judge's decision.

Metro on 05/20/2016

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