Jury deadlocked, right to jury trial waived in separate rape cases

Jury deadlocked, right to jury trial waived in separate rape cases

By Ken Childers

ONL Editor

Last week saw a deadlocked panel and a jury trial waiver in two separate rape cases at the Okfuskee County Courthouse.

The jury could not reach a decision in the trial of Thomas Lee Golden of Weleetka, who is accused of raping a teenage girl in 2017. The state plans to retry him at a future date. Jermella Bacy, who was charged earlier this year with first-degree rape, forcible sodomy and first-degree burglary, waived his right to a jury trial and will face a bench trial in 2020.

In July 2017, Golden, who was 20 years old at the time, was charged with rape in the second degree after law enforcement received information that he was having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

According to the arrest affidavit, Golden told Sgt. Danker of the Okemah Police Department that he had met the girl at the Okemah City Park a few weeks earlier and they had begun “hanging out” together.

Golden stated that the two went to Shawnee and watched a movie and when they got back into town, they went and hung out at the lake. According to the affidavit, Golden admitted to having sexual relations with the girl, who he believed to be a 15-year-old. Danker then spoke to the teenager, who allegedly stated the relationship was consensual.

Bacy was arrested in late February after a woman went to the Prague Police Department and reported that she had been sexually assaulted at her residence in Paden. The case was turned over to Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) Agents Derek White and Kurt Titsworth.

According to an affidavit, the alleged victim told the agents she was asleep with her eight-year-old daughter when she was awakened by a man who had his hand over her mouth. She said she saw the man leaning over her daughter. The man allegedly grabbed her by the hair and said, “Youʼre coming with me.”

The woman also said the man led her at knifepoint to the bathroom, where she was forced to perform various non-consensual sexual acts with the man, according to the OSBI report. The attacker also threatened to kill her and her children if she “tried a stunt,” the alleged victim told the agents.

A couple of days later, White and Titsworth traveled to Paden to arrest Bacy on outstanding felony arrest warrants out of Comanche County, which included failure to appear on charges of possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Bacy waived his rights upon arrest and agreed to speak with the agents.

During an interview with agents, Bacy initially denied having any contact with the alleged victim, but eventually recanted the statement, according to Whiteʼs report. Bacy said he was in the backyard of his residence on the day of the reported incident when his accuser gave him hand signals, telling him to come to her residence at 4 a.m.

Bacy told the agents he walked to Amesʼ house at that time, where she was waiting at the front door for him, wearing a black spaghetti strap shirt. From there, Bacy said she led him into the bathroom where they each ― and with consent ― carried out various sexual activities.

Following the OSBI interview, Bacy was arrested and transported to the Okfuskee County Jail for booking.

Bacy’s trial was slated to get underway last week, but he submitted the waiver request at the last minute  and will face a future trial by a judge rather than a jury. At press time, the date had not been set.