Michael SkellengerA 4-year-old child won’t have to undergo another psychological evaluation about the alleged rape she endured more than two years ago, a Hamilton County Criminal Court judge ruled Thursday.
As Michael Skellenger’s case moves toward a Sept. 6 trial date, his attorneys filed a motion asking one of their experts, Dr. Nancy Aldridge, to perform an independent psychological evaluation on the child.
Police said the rape happened on July 14, 2014, and came to light the next day when the then-2-year-old told her grandmother that Skellenger hurt her. She was taken to the Children’s Advocacy Center, where a nurse practitioner found bruising and hemorrhaging.
But in their motion, Skellenger’s defense team argued the child’s initial statement to her grandmother “is very different than many other reports to counselors and even to the maternal grandmother.”
Because the case involves a victim of an alleged sexual assault, the Times Free Press will not print her name or a description of the assault.