8/14/09 – TG: Government says no need for new Alamo trial
Texarkana Gazette
August 14, 2009
By: Lynn LaRowe
Government says no need for new Alamo trial
The U.S. government filed a response Thursday to Tony Alamo’s motion for a new trial, denying reasons exist to give the recently convicted child sex abuser another shot at justice.
Alamo was convicted July 24 by a federal jury in the Western District of Arkansas of 10 counts of bringing young girls across state lines for sex. He is expected to be sentenced about six to eight weeks from the date of his conviction.
The government’s motion said U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes didn’t make a mistake when he allowed the jury to hear snippets of a jailhouse conversation because Alamo was talking about having sex with minors.
The motion also argues that a statement made during closing remarks by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner wasn’t a comment on Alamo’s decision not to testify but meant something else.
“The defendant has largely not disputed most of the elements that must be proven by the government beyond a reasonable doubt,” Jenner said at trial.
The government argues that Jenner’s statement shouldn’t be interpreted as a reference to Alamo’s silence in court when numerous other meanings could be gleaned from her words.
The motion also refutes that testimony regarding “assault, battery and corporal punishment,” was heard improperly by the jury.
“The government contends testimony about defendant’s assaults came to light after cross-examination of one of the victims,” the motion said. “The response elicited during defense cross-examination should not now serve to grant defendant a new trial.”
The defense’s motion had argued a new trial is necessary because two witnesses who invoked their Fifth Amendment right not to testify and incriminate themselves did so in front of the jury.
“The government believes the defense was aware Jennifer Kolbek and Sue Davis might invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege …,” the motion said.
The government’s motion also denies the defense’s assertion a new trial is merited because jurors heard evidence concerning Alamo’s prior conviction for tax evasion. Because one of the Jane Does named in the indictment testified Alamo first sexually assaulted her in the visitation area of the Federal Correctional Institute in Texarkana and because some of the travel the girls took was ancillary to Alamo’s legal troubles, the introduction of the evidence was unavoidable, the motion said.
The government also addressed each of the counts listed in the indictment separately and argued that evidence and testimony supported the jury’s verdict.