Deputies take Todd Phelps into custody after the jury verdict this morning in Lewis County Superior Court.
Updated at 3:18 p.m. on Saturday April 28, 2011
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The jury came back with guilty verdicts in the rape trial of former Pe Ell High School softball coach Todd Phelps.
It took six men and six women a little more than four hours between yesterday afternoon and this morning to make their decision.
Phelps, 52, was handcuffed and taken down to the jail.
The benches in the the courtroom in Lewis County Superior Court were packed, except for about half of them on the defendant’s side of the room.
Phelps faces as much as six years in prison when he is sentenced in the case involving a 16-year-old student player.
A sentencing date has not been set.
The expected four day trial that began last week extended into eight days as prosecutors attempted to prove Phelps gradually seduced a girl already troubled with low self esteem and depression and ultimately had sex with her they said was clearly against her wishes.
Jurors heard witnesses testify about thousands of texts exchanged between the two, before and after Phelps was forced to quit his coaching job because of boundary violations with the player.
Defense attorney Don Blair painted a picture of a caring father-figure who was attempting to prevent a suicide. Blair said his client never thought he did anything inappropriate.
The now-17-year-old girl spent a day and a half on the witness stand
Phelps did not testify.
He was found guilty of third-degree rape as well as second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor in connection with encounters last spring and summer with the high school student.
The jurors also found he used his position of trust with a particularly vulnerable victim, meaning the judge can sentence him above the standard sentencing range.
The potential sentence is anywhere between six months to six years, according to Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead.
Phelps’ family and lawyer quickly vanished from the courthouse following the verdict.
The victim’s family slowly made their way out of the courtroom in Chehalis as they exchanged hugs with each other and others. It was very quiet.
Judge Nelson Hunt had warned spectators there should be no outbursts when the verdict was read.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said he had little to say since the sentencing is pending.
“As always, we have trust in the jury system,” Meyer said. “But the case isn’t over, so that’s all I can say.”
Before the jury began deliberating on Thursday afternoon, they heard an almost three hour summary from both sides about what they should consider.
Deputy Prosecutor Halstead spoke for more than two hours reminding jurors of the many details – lots of talk with sexual overtones – they’d heard that suggested Phelps had a different motive than helping a troubled teen.
In mid-April of last year, after the assistant coach was told by the school and her parents to stop having contact with her except at fast pitch, it continued with constant texting including one from him the following morning, according to Halstead.
“This should have been the end of all of this,” he said. “The state would submit to you he has a different agenda.”
Defense attorney Blair subtly told jurors it was her word against his.
None of the lawyers were involved in the situation when it was going on, he said.
“We can’t tell you, we have to rely on what everybody else said happened,” he said.
Blair agreed there were a lot of “contacts” but reminded jurors the content of the messages were unavailable, and said the prosecutor’s case relied upon a lot of smoke.
The defense attorney spoke of how Phelps had coached for as long as 18 years before “all of the sudden” something like this comes up.
His client was concerned because he learned the girl had been cutting on herself, something her father yelled at her about when it came to his attention, Blair said.
He made no secret he was trying to help her, Blair said.
Blair argued some of the prosecution’s witnesses were mistaken and that the April 2 incident at Phelps house about kissing and Phelps pressing his body against the girl’s did not happen.
“I’m not saying any of these folks did or did not lie,” Blair said. “But we know all of the stories can’t be true, because of the lack of consistency.”
The detectives found no blood on the carpet in Phelps’ brother’s house, which the girl said soaked through a towel, Phelps’ computer wasn’t analyzed and much of the prosecutor’s case relied upon what the girl and her friend said, the defense attorney said.
“Other than the contact, we don’t have that hard proof,” he said. “It’s just not there.”
On the topic of the alleged rape on July 27, Blair offered indications of both his client not even being present and if he was, that it did not amount to rape.
The defense attorney noted phone records that showed Phelps and his wife were texting late that afternoon.
“In order to get a text and reply 30 second later, one would think you’re at your phone, not committing a sex crime,” he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Halstead pointed out the records showed texts and phone calls, not all of which were answered immediately and argued they supported what the teenager told detectives.
“The defendant’s whereabouts, despite the testimony from his daughter, cannot be accounted for,” Halstead said.
Halstead reminded jurors of testimony from others that would help them understand why Phelps asked the teenager to meet him at his brother’s house the day of the rape.
He knows his brother is working out of town and his sister-in-law is going shopping with his wife, Halstead said.
“I guess he was either there, or he wasn’t,” he said. “If he was there, I guess you are to believe (the girl) consented.”
He detailed the girl’s actions and words that he said showed clearly she was not consenting to sex.
Consent is not an issue for the other charge, only that the girl was a student and the defendant was her coach, according to Halstead.
Halstead gave numerous examples of Phelps’ “grooming” the girl for sexual activity.
He also noted that after the April 2 kiss – when she was asked to show her coach the self-inflicted cuts on her thighs – a girl who had never been kissed told the youth pastor’s wife the very next day.
“She needs to express something to someone, but doesn’t want to get the defendant in trouble,” he said.
He pointed out another kiss, which Phelps said was on the forehead, was witnessed by Phelps’ daughter who told two individuals about it but denied it when she took the witness stand.
Halstead admitted the girl played a role in the continued contact between the two, although he blamed Phelps for isolating her from others, leaving him as a lone trusted confidante.
“I think it’s pretty clear she had a crush on him,” he said. “She trusts him, she probably likes the attention, she’s 16.”
Her reliance on her coach was part of why there was little physical evidence showing their conversations via text, according to Halstead.
For example, when she got caught texting him in class, she erased everything, according to Halstead.
“She’s upset, she didn’t want this to get out,” he said. “She deletes all heir texts from her iPod, her mom actually has to go under the stall (in the school bathroom) to grab the iPod.”
Halstead reminded jurors of corroborative testimony and evidence the two continued communicating after he was no longer her coach; through girls who said they acted as go-betweens, and when the teenager gave Phelps her password to him so he could message her using her hotmail account.
Two emails from September submitted as evidence were found inside a special folder called “For my little star” were important, according to the deputy prosecutor.
One was a love song by Mariah Carey called “Without you“, the other a frowning face with the words I’m sorry.
“Who is sorry? What are they sorry for?” Halstead asked.
He pointed out jurors had heard testimony the only individuals with the password were the girl, Phelps and Phelps’ daughter.
“Remember what he said to his co-worker, ‘My life would be over if they found my text messages’, ” Halstead said.
The same co-worker Mark Miller testified Phelps was “obsessed” with the teenager, Halstead reminded the jury.
“Mark warned him, stay away from her Dude, you’re a truck driver, not a shrink,” he said.
Halstead suggested Phelps misled his family, suggesting the girl was in imminent danger of harming herself and nobody was doing anything about it, when actually her family already knew about the cutting and had gotten her counseling.
He related that to a motive Phelps family members may have had to remember facts in a skewed manner when they testified, in particular Annette Phelps when she told what time she last saw he husband on July 27.
“She’s in denial, the reason she’s in denial is she doesn’t have all the information,” he said.
Halstead told the jury the girl told very detailed, consistent stories; that it took courage for her to testify.
“She was cross examined for four and a half hours,” he said. “Consistent. Nothing inconsistent with her story.”
Judge Hunt told the attorneys to return next Thursday when a sentencing date for Phelps would be set.
The second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor conviction is related to an incident that occurred on or about April 2, 2011. It is is a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail.
The third-degree rape conviction is related to July 27, 2011. It is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Attorneys gave closing arguments in front of a large audience in Lewis County Superior Court.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
If the lies started in his younger years there is not much that can be said or done.
bugsy…. there is a statute of limitations for sexual abuse crimes in Washington state that is kind of tricky. If you were under 14 then it is three years after you turn 18 and if you are 14 and older you have to report it within one year and three years to prosecute. I am not sure how well I am interpreting that. It can be longer if their are repressed memories.
Justice are the girls/women harmed willing to come forward and file complaints of their own? If they did that would surely put this man away for a long time and maybe shut me up. But if they don’t come forward, not even one, then how are we to believe there are other victims?
Sharon does not let posts get through that are potentially libelous. So even if I wanted to tell you how many victims she could not let that through.
But I could tell you how many things I think he “lied” about and my best guess is that he lied for sure over five times that I know of and I think he lied much more than that and it just has not been discovered yet.
Hear me Roar…Why is the question put out to the community that ANYONE who has been a VICTIM of this man please come forward?
Also, to help you with your denial, I am posting what I posted on the other thread.
“Here me Scream(roar)….ALIBI… When Todd’s first alibi didn’t pan out, IE his buddy and him at the shooting bench, when in fact the shooting bench as a keypad access that tracks the entrants by membership assigned numbers that showed his buddy DID NOT access the shooting bench the day alledged.
Then the Defense attorney and Todd met up with the “neighbor “on the sidewalk who testified at trial that he DID NOT see Todd at the shooting bench after attorney repeatedly tried to jog his memory and try to put words into his mouth. And many in the community have also stated they have not seen Todd at the shooting bench ever
.
The here comes the kicker, when you can’t get your attorney to convince the neighbor, let’s use the crying daughter trick. Yes Todd marched his crying daughter to the same neighbor that testified and demanded that the neighbor SAW him at the shooting range.
Now how pathetic is that. He used his own daughter to save his ass. She testified on his behalf and to a alibi.
He truly is a manipulative SOB…He deserves every minute, hour, day and year the judge gives him, but he will never, I hope be able to use his daughter in this way again.
But you said we wouldn’t believe how “many” have been harmed by him. How many do you think?
There were “hearme.” Their names came out at trial and they both testified.
Back up the truck….other sexual trysts? As far as I could find there wasn’t any other trysts, sexual or otherwise mentioned anywhere but on here. All made up just like this girls story. Keep on point, Justice. No more make-believe!
Amazed. You are nothing but a complete dumb ass. How and where did you receive your education on cutters? What? are you a warped orderly/guard/assistant counselor in a psych ward/mental health/teen correction facility that has had a couple of in-service education credits because your spew the most inarticulate and insensitive bullshit I have ever heard. Educated persons who are educated in mental health field give a shit about people and would NEVER speak about such sensitive and important issues with such callousness and contempt unless they are mental instable and abusive. Everything you say has dumb ass red neck written all over it. It’s people like you in Pe Ell that give it a bad name. And of course you think your children are okay because you are a dumb ass. I am sure they do and say the same dumb ass things like their dumb ass momma.
What this girl and her family did was brave. Todd Phelps is a predator and it was brought out in court she was not his first sexual tryst. If you knew how many innocent young woman have been harmed, how many good parents have been hoodwinked, and how many adult woman have manipulated it would make you physically ill and embarrassed because you would understand sometimes bad things happened to good people and good parents. A rapist is off the street and in jail. Thank God.
Karma is a bitch and if it all comes back around you will eat your words and even I wouldn’t celebrate that fact because what this girl, family, and her supporters have endured I would not wish on my worst enemy.
Amazed have you graduated elementary school? I sincerely hope not because there is no excuse other than you being under the age of 10 for your rambling incoherent dribble. You think you’re really cool and clever getting on a public internet forum and telling the victim of a rape to “cut herself until she dies.” Classy. You and Stephenie should hang out.
Amazed, I agree with you when you and others state Todd was trying to help her by personally counseling her. In fact his altruistic actions will finally bear fruit when he is ordered by the court to be financially responsible for any therapy she is likely to receive.
I wonder if she felt gypped on only getting to spend two days testifying in front of a full court room. And then she sees all the coverage lavished on Todd, I bet she’s fuming.
And whats this that is more than being inferred that there are some other females that Todd may have had some questionable histories with?
@donthockalugieonmywindow: Actually I do have kids, they’re great young adults now. I raised them to be responsible for their actions Big or Small. WE had good communication (which through their years of school I noticed most parents don’t understand the meaning of that). This is why I get so frustrated with the BS that goes on in this community of JUDGES & JURIES. If her parents were aware of any of this “extracurricular activity” THEY too are responsible (to keep her safe but also to make her Responsible for her own actions & how they might be perceived by others). I am Not the Knucklehead here. I’m not saying Todd wasn’t wrong in whatever went on, but on the other hand I also know how teen girls are. Enough said. Carry On as usual.
@haveaheart says: Actually I do know what I’m talking about. She got the “attention” she wanted without actually Harming herself now didn’t she?..now THE WHOLE COUNTY will HELP her LMAO! I am very well educated on “cutters” or girls of her age who PRETEND to attempt suicide. Boowho my life is rough..I have a curfew, I have to do my homework, maybe my parents fight *I NEED ATTENTION*. This isn’t the 1st of this type of case in Pe Ell. And 1 I specifically remember was very close to this 1. He WAS also convicted, but the girl sure lavished in the popularity afterwards. Oh did I mention while this “raping” was going on she was also enjoying all the “gifts she received”. In my eyes it’s not black & white/right & wrong. Yes I know this difference between right & wrong…I knew it by the time I was 14 years old. shouldn’t I have had to be held responsible for ANY of my actions? DANG IT I COULD HAVE GOTTEN AWAY WITH ALOT! I do have COMPASSION where it is really deserved. I’m not seeing where it is deserved on either sides here. 2 wrongs never make a right but also 2 wrongs doesn’t equal 1 wrong & 1 right.
“smile”
Just figured out Mr. Loogie…. he is referring to George Murray’s store, old Cougar Murray…. LMAO, thanks for the memory.
By the way…. i am going to kiss Sharon’s ass and tell her kudos on the RCW and you tube links in the article…. pretty snazzy.
It is so scary to hear over and over again this same flawed thinking of some of the knuckleheads like Amazed on this site. I can’t help but think how old is this person. Old enough to have grown children and I think shit she/he raised their kids without an ability to reason. Or are they young and yet to raise their kids, what chance in hell do those kids have and what kind of trouble will they get themselves or others into.
You read Justice’s comments and think for Gods sake a person is told over and over the right thing to do to help someone and they are told no you cannot. His co workers told him no, the school told him no, the parents told him no, his wife even told him no by getting a different phone, the cops told him no, still he didn’t stop so what makes you think Amazed that any of us or a jury would believe that he would listen with the girl when she told him no don’t do it.
He is a convicted rapist now. Do you get it……….. A CONVICTED RAPIST…
Would you try and perform surgery if u were not a surgeon? Would u prescribe medication if you are not a doctor? Why in the hell would u try and provide counseling to a suicidal girl, and that accusation is still up for debate, without being a certified mental health professional? Obviously you are too f-ing dumb or arrogant to get it through your head this is wrong. WTH. Your buddy was convicted of crimes partly based on this issue because he knows better. He has had training. He lost his coach position because of this. Do u want the freaking cell next to him.
Amazed, you have no idea what you are talking about and no compassion. If you did any research at all you’d know that “cutters” rarely want to kill themselves. Cutting is a sad coping mechanism for extreme depression. It replaces psychological pain with physical pain. To help someone you get them professional help. You are in denial if you think this man set out to help her. He targeted a weak girl with real issues and made her life worse, leaving her scars that will last a life time. To say that she should continue cutting and kill herself is criminal of you, not to mention showing that you have no heart. People should HELP people, but in a responsible way. This excuse for him that he was trying to help is ridiculous.
…And not sexually assault them, ESPECIALLY if they are a minor girl and you happen to be a guy who looks every minute of your 52 years.
One things clear regarding these latest charges, if you are an attorney who agrees to represent Todd Phelps, he’s gonna keep you busy!
@ Amazed…The moral to the story is : if you believe someone needs help you contact a Professional to help them!