James Ernest Guinn of Marcus has been arrested and charged with multiple felony offenses relating to the possession of child pornography and child sexual abuse charges. He is in the county jail and a bond has been set of $500,000.  The charges are the result of a careful investigation by the detectives of the Stevens County Sheriff’s office working together with the Child Advocacy Center and Child Protective Services. The child pornography material was on several kinds of media, ranging from digital images in computer files, to video footage and 8 mm movie film.  All of the material is being examined the technicians at the forensic media lab in Spokane County.  The investigative material in this case may eventually be turned over to the United States Attorney’s office for further investigation. Please remember a person is considered innocent unless and until they are found guilty or plead guilty.

The work crew will begin working again very soon. One again the focus will be on roadside trash and illegal dump sites throughout the county.
There have been some budget cuts that have affected the Department of Ecology and which have reduced the funds available for roadside litter removal, but we are working through those problems and it appears there will be money available to begin the program by the end of this month.

In one of the cases currently set to go to trial soon, an interesting legal issue has surfaced.  The victim of the theft has died.  The victim made several statements to the police at the time of the theft.  The statements were made part of the police report and form a basis for believing that the items missing were really stolen from the victim by the suspect and not given to the suspect by the victim. But the victim is now deceased and the question is whether the jury can be allowed to hear the statements made to the police by the victim at the time of the investigation.

Ordinarily, statements by persons who are not in court cannot be used as evidence at trial.  This is called the hearsay rule.  The reason such statements cannot be used is that the defendant is not able to confront and cross examine the person who actually made the statement that is being used against the defendant at trial.  It is a good rule and one which is basic to our jury system.   There are a few exceptions to this hearsay rule which are carefully defined and this issue is being sorted out now through motions and rulings by the court.