GREENFIELD — The defendant standing trial on child molest charges this week in Hancock Circuit Court told another man nearly 10 years ago that he was a sex addict and was seeking treatment for the condition.
In the second day of the state’s trial against 32-year-old Ryan Dudley of Wilkinson, who faces three felony counts of child molesting, a man named Mark Stacy took the stand briefly and told jurors that he met the defendant in 2009.
During a conversation they had, Dudley called himself a sex addict and admitted he was seeking counseling, Stacy testified.
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Jurors were told nothing more about how the two men came to meet or why.
And although Stacy was on the witness stand for fewer than five minutes, his testimony and conversations surrounding it that were had away from jurors’ ears prompted Dudley’s defense attorney, Sean Row of New Castle, to twice ask the judge to declare a mistrial.
Those requests were denied by Hancock Circuit Court Judge Scott Sirk.
Dudley is accused of assaulting two young girls, whom he occasionally helped care for. The girls — the daughters of a friend of Dudley’s — came forward last year to tell police that Dudley had forced them to engage in sexual acts, according to court documents.
Both girls — each elementary-school aged — took the stand Wednesday to tell jurors about the abuse they suffered, speaking in timid voices and pausing occasionally when they became too uncomfortable.
Their stories were similar. Each said Dudley touched them inappropriately on the few times they were left alone with him, always in his room in their house, according to testimony.
Dudley has faced similar allegations in the past, officials said.
Outside the presence of the jury, it was revealed that Dudley had previously been accused of sexual assault, and Stacy was the police officer in Henry County who investigated the crime.
Records show Dudley pleaded guilty to felony sexual battery in 2010 and served time on probation.
Jurors have not been told Dudley’s criminal history. They do not know Stacy is a retired police officer.
A debate over whether to allow Stacy to testify broke out Wednesday morning while jurors were away from the jury box.
Row said the information Stacy would bring to light — the remark Dudley made about sex addiction — would cause prejudice toward his client among the jury. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Marie Castetter, who is presenting the state’s case, argued however it was relevant information that the jury should be allowed to consider.
The door to the jury room was left open briefly during the attorneys’ discussion, and this prompted Row’s first request for a mistrial.
In response, Sirk ordered that each juror be questioned individually about whether they overheard the attorneys’ arguments. All 12 jurors said they had not heard any of the discussion.
Then, the vague nature of Stacy’s testimony in the afternoon prompted a juror to ask the judge for more information about the witness. (Jurors are allowed to write down questions during the proceedings; the judge decides whether the questions are asked of the witnesses.)
Row said the juror’s question proved Stacy’s testimony was a distraction from the rest of the evidence, and he again asked the judge to declare a mistrial. Sirk denied the requests.
On Wednesday, jurors also heard from the Greenfield Police Department’s lead investigator on the case; and a forensic biologist, who works in the state police crime laboratory and was asked to examine the girls’ clothing for DNA that might match Dudley’s, none of which was found.
Castetter spent most of the morning questioning Dudley’s two young accusers.
The girls, separately, came into the courtroom clutching stuffed animals and comfort blankets. They assured the jury they knew the difference between the truth and a lie, and knew that telling a lie could get them into trouble.
When Castetter’s questions got too invasive — like when she asked them to explain to the jury exactly how Dudley had harmed them — the girls went quiet, glancing wide-eyed away from the jurors.
With some prompting and rephrasing from the prosecutor, they shared what they’d told investigators a year ago.
The girls made their disclosure in March 2017. Their parents testified that during dinner one evening, the word “sex” was used by one of the children at the table.
The remark sent the older of the two girls running from the table in tears, according to testimony.
The girls said they separately confided in their mother what happened to them. The police were called, and they repeated their stories to a Department of Child Services interviewer the next day, they testified.
Dudley denies the allegations.
The trial will continue at 8:30 a.m. today in Hancock Circuit Court. All proceedings are open to the public.