TN+Assault+Local+Case

A Kingsport, Tenn., man accused of raping a girl between 2002 to 2004 could spend up to 124 years in jail after a Sullivan County jury on Tuesday found him guilty on four counts of rape and four counts of incest. Douglas Keith Bear, 38, was charged with sexually assaulting a female relative when she was between the age of 6 and 8. It took the jury two hours to return the guilty verdict and fine Bear $160,000 at the end of a two-day trial. "It’s because of people like you that the system works," Judge Robert Montgomery told jurors as he thanked them for their service. Bear’s victim, who is now 11, took the stand in tears on Monday when Bear’s trial started. The child talked about how he forced her to have sex with him on three occasions and perform a sex act once during the time period. Assistant District Attorney General Amber Massengill backed up the testimony with a signed confession Bear gave a Kingsport Police detective, admitting to some of the charges against him. "The evidence in this case is overwhelming," she said Tuesday, adding that police also found a pair of the girl’s underwear stained with Bear’s semen in his truck. "[Bear] has incriminated himself in everything he has done." Bear’s attorney Jerry Fabus spent Tuesday trying to contradict the prosecution’s evidence. He put some of Bear’s family members on the witness stand, and they testified they were shocked by the charges levied against Bear. "I’ve never seen [Bear] do anything like that," Bear’s sister-in-law Patricia Bear said. "I’ve never seen him get violent." Douglas Bear took the stand on Tuesday, and said he suffered an apparent black-out when he wrote the confession and was not conscious of anything that had happened until he returned home. Fabus also attacked the victim’s testimony, pointing out instances when she may have been unclear about what happened to her or how she may not have remembered details preceding or following the attacks. "Stuff like this is hard for a child to talk about, but when she was here, she really didn’t remember any of it," Fabus said. He also said when the child first made the allegations in June 2004, she was staying with a woman with whom Bear had recently ended a relationship. "[The girl] remembered what happened, and I submit to you, she’ll never forget about what happened," said Massengill, who later admitted she lost her cool while making her closing arguments. Bear is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 21 at the Sullivan County Justice Complex. Massengill said she would wait until the sentencing to determine whether to pursue other charges against Bear. He also has been charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy in 2003. Bear was swntenced to 75 years, an effective life sentence.

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