A judge ruled Wednesday that a former Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy charged with sexually touching three delinquent girls in 2008 will be tried separately in each case.
But Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole also allowed evidence in all three cases against James Spates to be submitted in each trial.
Spates’ attorney, Jesse Dalton, had asked to sever the cases and wanted to limit introduction of evidence from the other cases in the individual jury trials.
Prosecutors argued that a jury should hear all the evidence because the series of alleged sexual advances showed a pattern.
“Touching of the victims’ erogenous areas during the pat-downs was not a mistake,” Assistant District Attorney Boyd Patterson wrote in a motion.
The three underage girls came in contact with Spates because of their circumstances as juvenile delinquents, and the alleged assaults came in the context of a pat-down when no adults were nearby, records show.
“All three pat-downs involved the defendant touching just the erogenous areas, while skipping all other areas involved in a legitimate pat-down,” Patterson wrote.
In one alleged incident, police said Spates touched a 16-year-old girl he was transporting to a juvenile lockup. Spates pulled over his vehicle, took the girl from the car, searched her and told her how she could contact him later, police said.
Spates, 46, was arrested and fired in January 2009 and is out on bond. He is charged with four counts of sexual battery and three counts of official misconduct.
He had worked as a patrol deputy for two years, officials said.
Poole said he would issue a written ruling by the end of the week, and attorneys will meet Friday to discuss the next step in the case.
The minimum sentence for each charge of sexual battery by an authority figure is three to six years. Each charge of official misconduct carries a penalty of one to two years.