Wife in child rape case says she felt threatened

Woman testifies that she kept silent because husband said he would ‘deny everything’

A Lawrence woman accused of endangering two children who say they were sexually assaulted said Friday she felt threatened by her husband and couldn’t tell authorities what she knew or suspected.

The woman took the stand in her defense Friday in the trial that began Wednesday.

“He had said that basically if I was to go to the pastor or to the police that he and the girls would deny everything,” the woman said.

She faces two counts of child endangerment and one count of lewd and lascivious behavior. Her husband faces a January trial on multiple charges, including three counts of child rape.

He’s accused of having sex with and molesting the two girls, now 9 and 11 years old, during a two-year period at the couple’s home in north-central Lawrence.

The girls and their siblings, who lived with their parents in Topeka, would frequently spend time at the couple’s home after school one day a week before evening church services.

The girls’ family met the couple through Heritage Baptist Church, which is northwest of Lawrence. Prosecutors have said that in June the girls told their parents and accused the man of having sex with them. Police later arrested the couple.

The woman is also accused of showing her genitalia, allegedly at the urging of her husband, to the older girl in the case.

Prosecutors have said a main piece of evidence in the woman’s case involves a four-hour interview she gave to detectives before they arrested her.

Her attorney, Napoleon Crews, has argued that the woman had only a suspicion something was happening between her husband and the two girls and that other adults, who had the same suspicions, have not been charged.

Amy McGowan, a chief Douglas County district attorney, asked the woman why, if she felt threatened by her husband, she didn’t speak about him during the interview with police.

“I was afraid that he would deny all that, so no,” the woman said.

Jury instructions and closing arguments in the trial are scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday.

The Journal-World generally does not name sex-crime defendants unless they have been convicted.