The Arkansas Court of Appeals threw out 10 fourth-degree sexual-assault convictions against a Scott County man Wednesday because the statute of limitations for prosecuting those charges had expired.
The court upheld convictions against James Bynum, 45, on two counts of second-degree sexual assault, for which he was sentenced to two consecutive 20-year terms, for a total of 40 years.
Bynum had been sentenced to six-year consecutive sentences on each of the 10 fourth-degree sexual assault convictions for a total of 60 years.
A Scott County Circuit Court jury found Bynum guilty of the 12 counts in a 2015 trial in Waldron.
The 10 counts of fourth-degree sexual assault involved a friend of his son who testified that he had been sexually abused by Bynum since the age of 14.
The appeals opinion said Arkansas law required that prosecution of fourth-degree sexual assault occur within three years of the boy's 18th birthday.
In this case, Bynum would have to have been prosecuted by May 2010. The charges were not filed until Sept. 23, 2015, more than five years after the statute of limitations had expired, Judge Kenneth Hixson wrote in the opinion.
The two convictions affirmed involved sexual abuse of two other friends of Bynum's son. Bynum's attorney challenged the convictions, arguing that the trial judge didn't have jurisdiction over the case. Hixson rejected the challenge, ruling that the abuse occurred in Scott County, over which the judge had jurisdiction.
State Desk on 01/28/2017