GREENFIELD — A Greenfield man whose summertime trial ended with a hung jury has accepted a plea agreement from prosecutors, in which he admitted to sexual misconduct with a minor.
But Terrell Gibson, 55, will not serve any additional jail time. Instead, he will complete a probation program designed specifically to monitor sex offenders. If he completes probation without any violations, the felony he pleaded guilty to Tuesday will be treated like a misdemeanor on his criminal record.
Gibson was charged after a girl told police she’d been abused by him repeatedly over a period of two years. The case went before a jury in July, but proceedings ended in a mistrial when the panel told a judge it could not make a decision.
Now, Gibson has pleaded guilty to one of the 10 sexual-assault-related felony counts on which jurors couldn’t cast judgment.
In a hearing Tuesday morning in Hancock Circuit Court, Gibson accepted a deal from prosecutors that called for him to plead guilty to one Class D felony of sexual misconduct with a minor — a lesser included offense than what he was originally charged with — and admit he’d touched the victim inappropriately on one occasion.
The plea agreement calls for Gibson to spend 18 months on probation. He’ll get 24 days of credit toward that time — one for each of the 12 days he sat in jail in 2015, plus an additional credit day for good behavior.
The plea agreement Gibson accepted was read aloud in court Tuesday, but he has not been formally sentenced. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for mid-January, after Gibson completes a probation evaluation.
It’s taken three years for Gibson’s case to move through the court system.
Charges were filed against the defendant in November 2015 after a girl came forward accusing him of touching her inappropriately and forcing her to engage in sex acts.
The girl said the abuse happened repeatedly between 2012 and 2014 whenever she visited Gibson’s home in Greenfield.
She accused Gibson of groping her and forcing her to touch him inappropriately. She said the man also sent her inappropriate pictures of himself and other text messages that were of a sexual nature, she testified.
The state originally filed 16 criminal counts against Gibson. Six of those — all accusing him of child molest — were dismissed prior to the case going before a jury this summer; jurors were told only of the 10 felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor that Gibson still faced.
Gibson ultimately pleaded guilty to one of those counts, though as a Class D felony rather than the Class C felony that was originally filed against him.
During the three-day trial in July, prosecutors worked to convince the jury that Gibson was guilty. They put the young victim on the stand to tell her story and pointed to romantic-sounding text messages the man sent the girl as evidence of an inappropriate relationship.
Gibson’s defense attorney Bob Elsea told jurors the girl was mentally ill, manipulative and prone to lying.
Jurors spent more than five hours deliberating after hearing evidence in the case. Eventually, they told the judge they’d reached an impasse and were unable to make a decision; so, the judge declared a mistrial.
The case sat in limbo for several months while prosecutors and Gibson’s defense team decided how to proceed. Finally, a plea agreement was filed last week, and Tuesday’s change-of-plea hearing was scheduled.
Gibson sat at the defendant’s table quietly, flanked by Elsea and his other attorney, John Tompkins of Indianapolis. Absent was the crowd of supporters who sat through the three-day trial in July.
The victim did not attend Tuesday’s hearing; but her aunt — her legal guardian — was in the courtroom, and wiped tears from her eyes. She is expected to speak at Gibson’s sentencing hearing, which was scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 15 in Hancock Circuit Court.