Molestation trial to begin

In a rare legal maneuver, a prosecutor is seeking a judge’s approval this week to go forward with a child molestation trial even though the alleged victim is unable to testify because she’s dead.

Convicted sex offender Clifford J. Grogan, 66, of Cusick, is scheduled to go to trial Thursday on the charge of first-degree child molestation of 6-year-old Melissa Larkin, who was stabbed to death nearly six years ago.

Melissa and her mother, Samantha Bowyer, 25, were both slain Nov. 24, 2001, in their apartment at 222 S. Lacey in east Spokane. Bowyer was Grogan’s former daughter-in-law, and he often cared for young Melissa.

Investigators initially looked at Grogan as a suspect in the slayings. He later took a polygraph examination that indicated that he was being untruthful about his involvement in the stabbings. But prosecutors felt they lacked enough evidence to charge him in connection with the homicides.

However, investigators also received indications from witnesses that Melissa Larkin had been molested at Grogan’s home in Cusick, according to court records.

He was arrested in Pend Oreille County in May 2006 on the current charge of first-degree child molestation.

One of Grogan’s attorneys, Tim Trageser, said the molestation charge came only after investigators failed to find enough evidence to link Grogan to the double slaying.

“It is a desperate attempt on the part of the state. They investigated this homicide for years and came up empty,” Trageser said. “Now that the statute of limitations is starting to run out on the molestation, they file.”

Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno must decide this week on three contested legal points before the trial can proceed.

A hearing Monday was to determine whether Moreno will admit statements Grogan gave to investigators; the judge has yet to rule.

Another will determine whether “hearsay” testimony – from witnesses who claim that Melissa told them that Grogan had molested her – will be allowed.

In the third hearing, prosecutors will push to allow testimony from adult women who say Grogan molested them decades ago to establish what prosecutors contend is Grogan’s pattern of conduct.

According to court records, Grogan spent 18 years in prison after he was convicted of molesting an 8-year-old relative. After being released from prison, Grogan was convicted for having sex with the same girl. He also has convictions for attempted second-degree rape, indecent liberties and attempting to elude police.

Grogan told investigators that he finished only the second grade but learned to read in prison by poring over Louis L’Amour books.

He came to the attention of Spokane Police Department detectives after Melissa Larkin’s and Bowyer’s bodies were found stabbed to death in 2001.

Witnesses told police they saw a pickup similar to Grogan’s Toyota in the alley behind Bowyer’s apartment on the night of the slayings. But before investigators could search the truck, Grogan crashed into a semitruck and suffered serious injuries. He bled so much in the pickup’s cab that investigators were unable to effectively process it for evidence.

In 2003, Grogan and his wife, Harriet Grogan, submitted to lie detector tests, which indicated that both were deceptive about their involvement in the slayings.

Harriett Grogan told detectives that Clifford Grogan had left their home on the night of the slayings. When he returned, she said, Grogan told her he “had done something awful” that would put him “away for life,” according to court records.

During questioning by detectives Feb. 5, 2003, Grogan said he had touched Melissa “inappropriately,” according to court records. “He said he had only touched her on the leg near the crotch area.”

Ronald Bowyer, Melissa’s stepfather, said Grogan told him around March 1, 2003, that he had molested the girl.

“Clifford Grogan told Bowyer, ‘I didn’t want you to know’ referring to the fact that he had ‘some thoughts of touching her sexually,’ ” court records state.

Another woman, who is the biological niece of Grogan, told investigators that Grogan raped and molested her when she was between the ages of 3 and 13.

“Grogan would choke her or place a knife at her throat and threaten to kill her if she ever told anyone,” according to court records. Grogan “killed a kitten and a pet rabbit in front of (the niece), telling her that if she ever revealed what he had done to her, she would end up like the dead animals.”

Trageser, the attorney, said he faces an uphill battle, but he’ll try to prohibit Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Kelly Fitzgerald from allowing testimony from Ronald Bowyer, the niece and other witnesses.

“There isn’t a whole lot more that the state has now that they didn’t have in 2001,” Trageser said. “Two years ago, these adult females started coming forward saying, ‘Hey, Grogan molested us when we were little girls.’ The case is highly complex and unique.”