15-Year-Old Refuses To Testify After Accusing Father Of Rape

A 15-year-old girl, jailed to ensure that she appear in court after accusing her father of rape, was found in contempt Friday for refusing to testify at his trial.

Presented with an introductory question, the girl declined to answer, then said, “I’m not going to testify.”

After her attorney told Pierce County Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Felnagle that the girl would answer no further questions, Felnagle cited her for contempt. The trial later recessed for the weekend.

Earlier, the attorney for the girl’s mentally retarded father said the teenager would recant her story that she had been raped on three occasions between 1993 and early 1995. Sean Wickens said the girl made up the allegations because she was angry at her father for shooting her dog and unhappy the family was moving to Idaho.

“The evidence in this case will show that (she) lied,” Wickens said.

The girl was arrested as a material witness Aug. 9, after prosecutors heard she might flee to California rather than take the stand.

On Thursday, the girl’s public defender, Sybil Vitikainen, asked Felnagle to let the teenager stay at the home of a friend and be monitored electronically or housed in a hotel with an officer outside the door. But Felnagle ordered that the girl remain at the county’s juvenile lockup.

Felnagle said the girl would remain under house arrest but would stay at the home of a friend and not be returned to the lockup. She will reappear on Monday and be asked to testify again. The teenager faces fines of up to $2,000 a day, as well as court costs and attorney fees.

“No witness should be able to hold the judicial system hostage,” Felnagle said. “On the other hand, this court recognizes that 15-year-olds don’t always make good decisions.”

Wickens said deputy prosecutor Joanna Daniels threatened the girl last week, when the teenager’s lawyer was not present, with two months in jail if she refused to testify. The girl told the judge Thursday that Daniels did threaten her but never mentioned a specific jail term. Daniels denied making any threat.

The case arose after the girl told her boyfriend’s mother two months ago that her father had molested her.

She gave the same account to investigators but recanted a month later, claiming she made up the story.

Her father, a metal worker with an IQ of 69, admitted the crime after failing a lie-detector test, sheriff’s detectives said.