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A trial on child sexual assault charges against a youth hockey coach stalled somewhat Thursday over disputes about an expert defense witness’ qualifications.
After prosecutors rested their case against Jami Leslie James early Thursday afternoon, defense lawyers called forensic psychologist Robert Page to the stand.
He evaluates forensic interviews and testifies on them in court cases in Montana.
He told jurors that child sex abusers typically use threats, fear or other tactics to coerce their child victims into staying quiet.
Defense lawyers have noted repeatedly this week that according to the boys, James said nothing to them after the alleged assaults, including any requests to keep the incidents secret.
But moments into Page’s comments, prosecutors disputed his qualifications to testify, saying he had not practiced in child matters for 30 years.
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Lawyers discussed the issue privately with District Judge Robert Whelan for some time, then Whelan told jurors that Page’s testimony would be postponed until Friday so another witness could testify.
That witness was a counselor who refuted claims by one of the boys that James assaulted him on a boat during a hockey camping trip to Hungry Horse Reservoir. The counselor said the boy slept in a tent with him and others all night and he never went on the boat.
James went on trial Monday for allegedly raping the three boys in Butte and Flathead County between 2019 and early 2021. Prosecutors say the boys were 8 or 9 years old at the time and were participants in private hockey programs run by James.
James told police he never sexually abused children and could not think of a motive behind the accusations. But he has said he is biracial and told a detective after his arrest that he feels he is constantly attacked due to his race.
James, now 50, is charged with six counts of sexual intercourse without consent, a felony charge in Montana that usually involves alleged penetration by an object or body part.
James pleaded not guilty in April 2023 to two counts filed in Butte-Silver Bow County five days after he pleaded not guilty in Kalispell to four rape charges in Flathead County. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison.
The six counts were combined into one case that is being tried in Butte this week with Whelan presiding.
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Jury selection took all day Monday and Defense attorney Scott Hilderman said Wednesday the trial could spill into next week.
Two of the alleged victims are now 13 years old and the other is 14.
The three boys testified this week, all describing the same kinds of alleged sexual assaults.
One of them said James assaulted him on three occasions, including once a boat with sleeping quarters during the camping trip at Hungry Horse Reservoir. The counselor said Thursday that James and his son were the only ones he saw get on the boat and the boy in question stayed in a tent.
Under cross examination, the counselor acknowledged that if he was sleeping some that night, he couldn’t be certain to nobody ever left the tent.
Earlier Thursday, professionals who conducted forensic interviews in the case recalled accounts of sexual assaults the boys told them about in separate interviews more than two years ago.
The accounts matched those the boys testified to this week during the trial, and prosecutors noted repeatedly Thursday that forensic interviews are designed to be neutral, objective and without leading questions.
The interviewers also told jurors that long periods of time can pass before children disclose abuse or sexual assaults they have experienced.
Prosecutors say James raped the three boys in Butte and Flathead County between 2019 and January 2021, but authorities didn’t learn about any of them until December 2022.
Joy Lucero, who conducted a forensic interview of one boy in Butte, said weeks, months and even years go by before some children – and some adults, too – disclose sexual assaults.
“It is more common than not to see delayed disclosure,” she said.
An expert in forensic interviews gave jurors an overview of them earlier this week and discussed research-based best practices on how they are to be conducted.
But she also acknowledged there have been instances of false allegations, some of them high-profile cases that smeared numerous innocent adults, including teachers.
The trial was to resume Friday but it wasn’t clear if the case would go to the jury or the trial would resume Monday.
Mike Smith is a reporter at the Montana Standard with an emphasis on government and politics.
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