Jury finds California man guilty of molesting young relative

A 79-year-old California man accused of molesting several generations of relatives was found guilty this morning of raping a then-7-year-old relative in Bellevue in 2002.

It took jurors in King County Superior Court just over an hour to find Roger Alan Scherner, 79, guilty on three counts of molesting the girl during a family vacation. He faces 12 to 16 years in prison when he is sentenced.

Because of a new state law at the heart of the case, the jury was allowed to consider evidence of Scherner's past alleged exploitation of children during its deliberations. In addition to the victim in the case, now 14 years old, four women — three of them relatives — testified during the trial that Scherner molested them as children.

Scherner, of Carmel, Calif., was arrested and charged in 2003 after the California girl told her mother that Scherner molested her in Bellevue. On the witness stand last week, the girl said Scherner invited her into his bed, touched her sexually and forced her to touch him.

The verdict comes a day after Scherner took the stand to testify in his own defense. Scherner admitted to molesting another young relative, hinted that he may have abused others and said he couldn't recall what happened during three middle-of-the-night encounters with the 7-year-old during a family vacation.

During questioning by his defense attorney, Scherner — who was the defense's only witness — explained that he fled to Florida in February before his King County trial was set to begin in part because he "felt the previous adventures with women I had would come up ... and I would not have a fair trial."

"Is that what you call the fact that you've molested children over the years, 'adventures with women'?" asked Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Julie Kays during cross-examination.

"That's the only term that came to mind," Scherner said.

After his testimony, Scherner's defense attorneys chose not to re-question him and rested their case.

During closing arguments, defense attorney Anthony Savage told the jury to go ahead and assume that those four women were molested by Scherner but that he did not molest the girl involved in the current charges. "[She] is a liar," he said.

In the case, prosecutors have used a new law that makes it easier to bring evidence of a defendant's past alleged sexual offenses into trial. Savage continually objected to its use Wednesday during closing arguments, in which Kays told the jury, "History repeats itself."

Superior Court Judge Richard Eadie said the argument that a defendant's past actions show a tendency or proclivity for a particular offense is allowed. "That is the sea change in the law," he said.

Defense attorneys observing the case this week said they expect the new law soon to face challenges in higher state courts.

"Improprieties"

Scherner began the day Wednesday denying having ever touched any child sexually. The admissions he then made spilled out slowly over the course of about an hour of cross-examination.

Scherner stated that he went to therapy in 1987, spurred by "accusations" from one girl, a now-29-year-old relative who is not involved in the current charges.

"[She] accused you of what?" Kays asked.

"Of improprieties," Scherner answered.

"If you didn't commit this unspeakable act, why did you go into treatment?" countered Kays.

"I've had a very intermittent problem of sexual abuse of children," he said.

"Were you attracted to little girls or little boys?"

"The problem was ... young women. It was a matter of opportunity combined with some alcohol, that created a problem that needed to be taken care of."

"I've yet to hear you admit to molesting little girls," Kays said.

"I had molested my granddaughter," Scherner then said. That girl, 8 at the time and now an adult, spoke with police as part of a far-reaching investigation into Scherner's history.

"I would tuck her in, [perform] oral sex, massage her. That was it," he stated on the stand.

Scherner testified that he never reoffended after the therapy, of which there are no records.

"Are you telling me that you were cured?" Kays pressed him.

"Yes," he said.

Relatives testify

Over the course of the two-week trial, various members of the large family either testified or were present in the courtroom. Some said the events behind the case have torn the family apart, a theme both attorneys touched on during closing arguments.

Savage told the jury that because the girl Scherner was charged with molesting added to her story over the years, she is not credible.

"She has been fed this family history, as uncomfortable and dismal as it is, and she and the family is here to get even. ... She is now a teenager, who is just as capable of lying as any other teenager."

Kays painted a different picture.

For decades, she said, "It was a dirty little secret. It took a brave girl to open the door, pull up the rug and see what was underneath."

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com