Inside the Courtroom
Trial of the Child Molestation Case
WARNING: Some readers may find the content of this story disturbing. Discretion is advised.
On Sept. 11, while our country mourns the fifth anniversary of our nation's worst domestic tragedy, another domestic tragedy will unfold in a suburban Atlanta courtroom. Former foster parent Ronald William Shelton will be put on trial before the Superior Court of Gwinnett County, Ga., for molestation of two of his foster children.
The allegations are grim. The State of Georgia accuses Shelton of nine counts of child molestation and aggravated child molestation. Eight of the counts include sexual acts between Ronnie Shelton and a young girl. The remaining count includes a sexual act with a young boy.
Fostering Families Today is undertaking a unique opportunity to share the story of a real life foster parent on trial for allegations of child sexual abuse. Each day, Fostering Families Today through an experienced, knowledgeable, former foster parent, Erik Cooper, will bring to you a summary of actual trial events, including the jury selection process, opening statements of both the prosecutor and defense, victim and witness testimony, closing arguments and, of course, the verdict. The intent is not to sensationalize or exploit the life-changing events of this legal process. View this trial as a classroom, where we will identify in layman's terms, the legal procedure and terminology commonly used in the courtroom to enhance your understanding of the process as it unfolds.
We strongly recommend reader discretion of this story. Some readers may be offended by the content. Details of the accusations against Shelton may be considered graphic and disturbing to some readers. Please do not allow any child to read our coverage of this trial.
Coverage of this case will be objective and impartial. Neither this publication nor this writer will claim the innocence or guilt of Ronnie Shelton. Instead, as our readers, you will be provided fair and balanced coverage of the daily courtroom activities. Both Fostering Families Today and I are excited about this unique opportunity to share with you, trial of the child molestation case.
Fostering Families Today will provide daily updates of courtroom testimony available at www.adoptinfo.net. Upon conclusion of the trial, Fostering Families Today will publish a complete story of Trial of the Child Molestation Case. |
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Inside the Courtroom - CONLCUSION When I considered this assignment to report the child molestation trial of a former foster parent, I couldn’t imagine the stress my body would endure or emotions that would be evoked. After all, this wasn’t my trial; it was someone else’s — this time.
As I approached the courthouse entrance, I nearly tripped over the defendant and his wife — Ronald and Lynn Shelton — walking only steps ahead of me. I diverted my course for a longer route to the door, leaving them to the moment I understood all too well. They were about to begin a criminal trial which would determine the fate of Ronald William Shelton.
With every step, I felt my heart pound louder and harder in my chest. My breathing began to pick up, not from being winded by the walk, but from the adrenalin pumping through my veins, reminding me of the cool March day last year when I walked a similar pathway to begin my own criminal trial.
I sat on the concrete bench outside the courthouse, taking a moment to calm my nerves and slow my racing heart. Focus Erik, focus. I reminded myself how important this coverage was to the readers of Fostering Families Today. I recognized no reporter could possibly cover this trial from the same perspective as my own. I was accused of nine counts of child molestation. I was tried in this county, by this district attorney’s office, and inside this courthouse. I was falsely accused by six of my former foster children. If convicted, I faced up to 180 years in prison. I had no support from my child welfare agency.
Breathe Erik, just breathe. I was nearly inside the courthouse doors when I was stopped by the defendant and his wife, in mid-conversation with someone I would later learn was a trial assistant, part of Shelton’s criminal defense team.
“Strange seeing you here,” the defendant’s wife said.
“Good morning,” was the best reply I could muster. No response seemed appropriate. It certainly wasn’t a “good” morning. Not knowing if Shelton was innocent or guilty of the crimes he was accused, I could only say, “I hope everything works out for you.” I shook Shelton’s hand, smiled politely at the unknown stranger speaking with them, and walked into the courthouse with my head held high. I walked out of this courthouse on March 30, 2005, acquitted all molestation alleged against me. I knew I’d walk out again today.
A FOSTER PARENT’S PLIGHT
When we agreed to volunteer our time, to open our hearts and homes to care for someone else’s abused or neglected children, we could never fathom the possibility of being accused of committing such crimes ourselves. Foster parents are critically important to the development of damaged young people. We nurture. We counsel. We mend. We also take great risks, both known and unimaginable, while caring for someone else’s child. We invite emotionally fragile, chemically dependent, and sometimes physically disabled children into our homes, to blend with our young children, to become, if only temporarily, part of our family.
Many foster parents will agree we’ve had our own peculiar moments with our foster children, stories we’d rather not tell anyone about, including the streaker child who forgot his clothes, again, before beginning his bath or the awkward question of a curious tween. We quietly note the undocumented bruises we discover when a child enters our foster home. Some of our children are Pulitzer Prize winning storytellers too, some quite believable, others not. We untangle tales of our foster child’s home life before entering foster care, whether her father was really physically abusive, or whether she didn’t like living with him anymore.
Ronald Shelton and his wife, Lynn, decided to become foster parents in 1994, after their eldest son left home for college. Shelton, who grew up as a child of the projects, said he decided to foster children because he wanted to give back to other people. The couple submitted their application to become foster parents and, after attending foster parent certification classes, was approved by the Gwinnett County Department of Family and Children Services in Georgia to serve their community’s abused and neglected children.
Three siblings, Emma, 6, and her younger brothers, Michael, 3, and Ryan, 1½, had recently been removed from their biological home and placed in foster care. The youngsters were placed with Ronnie and Lynn Shelton and quickly became part of their family. At first, Emma was protective of her young brothers. In her biological home, Emma was her brothers’ caretaker, their protector. The Shelton’s soon taught Emma how to be the child she should have always been, and earned her trust to parent Michael and Ryan.
More than five years after Emma, Michael and Ryan became the Shelton’s foster children, they were adopted by the Morgan family. Mark and Melissa Morgan had several biological children, but decided to adopt three more. The children flourished in the Morgan home, as they did with the Shelton’s. Until one spring day in 2003 when Emma, now a high school teenager, told her mother she’d been molested by Ronnie Shelton when she was his foster child. Emma claimed the abuse occurred for most of the five years she was in Shelton’s care, and included graphic sexual acts too explicit to publish here. Melissa Morgan reported the alleged crime to Georgia’s child welfare agency. A law enforcement investigation began shortly thereafter.
Following a police interview, Shelton was arrested and charged with multiple counts of aggravated child molestation and child molestation. He was jailed and initially denied bond. After being released several months later, Shelton was rearrested following a pretrial court hearing when Emma’s youngest brother, Ryan, claimed he too was molested by Shelton when he was a foster child.
While mourners worldwide honored the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, the State of Georgia began its criminal trial against former foster parent Ronald William Shelton, accusing him of nine counts of aggravated child molestation and child molestation involving Emma and Ryan Morgan. Shelton received no legal or financial support from Georgia’s Department of Family and Children Services for his criminal defense. Instead, Shelton hired a noted defense attorney. Shelton’s lawyer assembled a strong criminal defense, sending investigators to interview state witnesses and hiring experts to analyze case evidence and testify at trial. Shelton reported spending more than $252,000 for his legal defense, causing him to delay his retirement, lose all of his financial savings, and to sell his home. Shelton was due to retire from his lifelong job with the Avon Company in October.
Shelton’s trial lasted two solid weeks. Jury selection included dozens of Gwinnett County citizens being interviewed for the first several days before opening arguments began. Alleged victims Emma and Ryan told jurors vivid recollections of their experiences with Ronald Shelton, including multiple acts of sexual abuse. State Prosecutor Tracie Hobbs told jurors police botched their investigation of the case, breaking accepted interview protocols and admittedly lying to Shelton about Emma’s physical scars, knowing she had none. Nearly 30 of Shelton’s family members, co-workers and friends filled the courtroom daily in show of support. By day nine, the jury was handed the case for deliberation. The following day, Shelton’s verdict was delivered — not guilty. Overcome by the emotional stress of the event, upon hearing the jury’s verdict, Shelton collapsed onto the floor suffering from a reported heart attack.
JUSTICE IN AN UNJUST SYSTEM
Were Emma and Ryan molested by foster parent Ronald Shelton? Was Shelton falsely accused of molesting his foster children? These questions may never be answered. As Americans, we rely upon our judicial system to bring justice to those accused of a crime, and justice for victims of a crime. The lines, however, are too often blurred. Objectivity is often exchanged for subjective decision-making.
Georgia criminal trials, like in many states, are governed by rules of criminal procedure. These rules often enhance state statutes and case law. Some evidence may be admitted at trial while other evidence is excluded. An attorney may make certain statements to jurors, while other statements are prohibited and subject to objection. The scales of justice somehow become fair and balanced, at least in our perception, through the rules of criminal procedure.
Ronald Shelton first learned of the criminal allegations against him during a voluntary interview he gave detectives inside a Gwinnett County Police Department interrogation room. Shelton was lured there by police investigators. Shelton thought investigators Roger Nelson and J.L. Abercrombie planned to ask him about his current foster child’s recent outcry of abuse by her father — an allegation he told the child welfare agency as a mandated reporter. Instead, Shelton learned Emma had accused him of grave acts of aggravated child molestation.
Pretrial hearings addressed various motions to determine which evidence would be presented and which excluded during trial. To prove his innocence, Shelton submitted to a penile plethysmography test administered by a respected psychological profiler, and a lie detector test administered by a retired F.B.I. agent. None of the results would ever become known to the jury. State Prosecutor Tracie Hobbs openly told jurors of mistakes detectives made, but insisted Shelton molested his foster children. The state never called Detective Roger Nelson to the witness stand to explain his investigative techniques. Shelton’s defense attorney claimed evidence existed showing Emma, Michael and Ryan were exposed to pornography within their biological home. Shelton’s lawyer also alleged Ryan had been molested by his biological father. The jury would never know of the pornography or prior molestation.
The verdict was reached by late Friday afternoon. After two weeks of trial testimony, evidence, arguments and deliberations, jurors reported they had enough. Their lives had been interrupted for too long. The evidence was insufficient. Reasonable doubt was found. While emotionless Emma Morgan was escorted by her adoptive parents out of the courtroom, Ronald Shelton left on a stretcher and was rushed to an emergency room.
When the verdict was returned, state prosecutor Tracie Hobbs sensed at least one juror may have been persuaded to vote “not guilty.” The juror’s eye contact and body language spoke of his disagreement with the verdict. In an unlikely move, Hobbs asked the court to poll the jurors — a process of asking each juror individually if the verdict was their verdict, if they still agreed with the verdict, and if they were influenced into making their verdict by anyone. When Shelton hit the floor and complained of chest pain, the scene inside the courtroom became chaotic. Hobbs subsequently withdrew her request to poll the jury.
Ultimately, the question of Shelton’s guilt or innocence remains unknown. Post-trial interviews with jurors revealed much dissention within the jury deliberation room. One juror was dismissed by the judge after revealing his own claim of sexual abuse. Another juror, who claimed he was bullied by fellow jurors to vote “not guilty,” alleged Judge R. Timothy Hamil made him feel he had no choice except to vote “not guilty.”
He explained during jury deliberations, the jury sent a note to Judge Hamil claiming they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict and were hung. The juror said Judge Hamil sent a note back to the jury instructing them to continue deliberations and stating he would not accept a hung jury. Under tremendous pressure and claiming he felt abandoned without support from Judge Hamil, the juror cast his vote of “not guilty.” Had Hobbs polled the jury as she initially requested, the juror said he would have rescinded his “not guilty” vote, and Judge Hamil would have been forced to declare a mistrial. Following a mistrial, the state could have tried Shelton all over again.
PERSPECTIVE
Can justice be achieved in child molestation criminal cases? When a foster parent is accused of a crime involving a foster child, should the state provide the foster parent’s criminal defense?
Statistics indicate many allegations are reported each year against foster parents and only a small portion of those allegations are ever substantiated. Law enforcement professionals must receive comprehensive training to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse. Molestation allegations often exclude any physical evidence, such as scars on the child’s body or proof of any crime. When such cases are brought based only upon the child’s outcry, strict interviewing protocols must be administered before criminal charges are ever brought. Improper interviewing techniques, including the authoritative influence of badge-wearing, gun-toting cops, may lead a child to say only what the child perceives is the right answer. Asking a child leading question, such as “How did he touch you on your back?” leads a child to acknowledge some form of contact ever occurred with his back. In such cases, false allegations are easily elicited and the lives of both the alleged victim and the accused are adversely affected.
Shelton and his wife, Lynn, want only to move on with their lives. Georgia law prevents the Sheltons from bringing a lawsuit against the state or alleged victims. Shelton, a father of three, grandfather of two, and husband, will forever be marked by this experience.
To read more about “Trial of the Child Molestation Case,” including daily coverage of the criminal trial, visit www.adoptinfo.net.
Note: “Trial of the Child Molestation Case” is a true story involving actual events and people involved. Whenever possible, the names of those involved in the case have been used. The names of the alleged victims and their adoptive parents were changed to protect their identity. Information is available through public records, including actual courtroom testimony, transcripts and other written documents. Some information may not be available under seal of the court.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Erik A. Cooper served as a foster parent for 42 children placed in his care through the Gwinnett County Department of Family and Children Services in Georgia. In 2003, Cooper was charged with nine counts of child molestation involving six of his former foster children, including four brothers Cooper hoped to adopt. Cooper was brought to trial in March 2005 and acquitted of all counts. For more information, visit Cooper’s website at www.ErikCooper.com.
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