CAMDEN — By TAMMY FRAZIER
Managing editor
A prosecutor has asked that the case be dropped for a Camden man who was accused of the rape of a child in 2018.
A court document from Feb. 25 has been filed in circuit court, and it shows that 13th Judicial District Deputy Prosecutor Phillip Stone has filed a motion for “nolle prosequi” Marty Ray Tuberville of Camden on the charge leveled against him in 2018 regarding the sexual assault of a child.
“Nolle prosequi” is a Latin legal phrase meaning “be unwilling to pursue,”and “do not prosecute,” according to www.legal-dictionary/the freedictionary.com.
However, Tuberville and his wife contacted that Camden News after the original story was printed, and both strongly contended that he was innocent of the charge, and that DNA tests would prove is innocence.
The Camden News has reached out to Stone, but has been unable to contact him about the details of him not wanting to pursue prosecution of Tuberville, whose trial was set to have begun on March 14.
According to an affidavit for warrant of arrest, on April 7, the Camden Police Department was contacted for a sexual assault report where the mother of the child stated that the day on April 6, she left her child alone with Tuberville for a few hours while she went out of town. The mother stated that her fiance’ arrived at Tuberville’s residence before she did and the finacé informed her that when he arrived, the child was acting strangely, the affidavit reports.
The mother reported that she took the child to the hospital in El Dorado and was informed the child needed to be examined further, so they referred her to the Child’s Advocacy Center in Pine Bluff. CPD officer Kayla Reynolds later spoke with Crimes Against Children Division Investigator Pamela Meeks about the case.
Meeks stated that the medical findings on the child were consistent with the child having been sexually molested.
The affidavit states that Meeks reported that the child was not verbal enough to give a statement due to the child’s young age, but the medical report from The Children’s Advocacy Center of Pine Bluff stated that there were signs of molestation within 24-48 hours of the day the incident was reported.
Based on that information, an affidavit for warrant of arrest was issued Tuberville.
The Camden News will share an update after Stone has shared more information.