A Pulaski County Circuit judge has declined to reduce the $250,000 bail of a 64-year-old North Little Rock man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl whom police say was forced into prostitution.
Gregory Lavern Dockery's attorney had asked for $25,000 bail, arguing the only evidence is the girl's accusation.
Dockery has denied sexual contact with the teen, and there is no DNA to connect him to her, public defender Kent Krause told the judge at a bail hearing.
In a ruling released Wednesday, Judge Cathi Compton said she did not see any grounds to reduce bail although she would be willing to reconsider if Dockery's lawyer can show more evidence for a bail reduction. Dockery faces a potential life sentence on the Class Y felony charge.
Dockery, who has been jailed since his March arrest, is the fourth person and third man charged with assaulting the girl.
A second man accused of assaulting her under similar circumstances, Hugh Oliver Daniels, 73, of North Little Rock, died of natural causes in March before he could be taken to trial. Daniels was arrested in September 2019 on three counts of rape.
A co-defendant, Kimberly Latrice Hatton, 36, is free on $50,000 bond, also charged with three counts of rape on accusations that she participated with Daniels in the assaults.
The third man is 21-year-old Hoseia Young Jr. of North Little Rock, arrested in August 2019 on two counts of rape. Court records show he is the father of the girl's child. Young is currently free awaiting trial on a $50,000 bond.
The judge reduced the bail of Dockery's co-defendant, 47-year-old Amanda Rochelle Rogers, from $100,000 to $25,000, the amount her lawyer had requested, though she remained jailed Friday. Rogers, who is Hatton's sister, is charged with trafficking of minor persons over accusations she induced the girl to prostitute herself with Dockery and facilitated the girl meeting with him.
Testifying at the defendants' bail hearing, North Little Rock police officer Julie Eckert told the judge that the girl said Rogers encouraged the girl to have sex with Dockery for money, as little as $15 at times, or for marijuana, with Rogers promising the teen that "it will be real quick and she could make some money."
In an interview, Dockery denied ever having sex with the girl, saying he did not want to because he already had a girlfriend. But Dockery also told investigators that Rogers had regularly tried to get him to have sex with the teen, deputy prosecutor Jennifer Corbin said.