News

Jury finds Hammock guilty

By Scott Wagar

03/10/2015

Editor’s Note: The following article deals with a gross sexual imposition court case which was held last week in Bottineau. Due to the age of the victim, who was five-years-old at the time of the crime, the Bottineau Courant will not be naming the child along with family members or friends who testified in the trial to protect the child. The only names that will be given out in this story are the defendant and a law enforcement agent who testified in the case.

A Bottineau man has been found guilty of gross sexual imposition with a young child after a two day jury trial that was held in district court this past week at the Bottineau County Courthouse.  

Mitchell Hammock, 64, was accused and convicted of improperly touching his five-year-old granddaughter at his home in Bottineau between the dates of January 2012 to on or about January of 2014.

TRIAL

The prosecuting attorney, Swain Anthony Benson III, started the trial by calling his first witness, a woman who reported Hammock to social service. 

The witness stated that Hammock and the little girl visited her home during a holiday. While they were at her house the witness was shocked when she witnessed an incident that occurred by the young girl and an off the cuff comment the little girl made about sex that she shouldn’t have known about. 

When asked how she knew about the topic the little girl said that daddy had taught her, which seem impossible to the witness because the girl’s father has been in the state penitentiary since the child was one-month-old.  

The witness then went to Hammock and told him about the conversation, but the witness said Hammock didn’t seem concerned about the incident after he was told, but did state he would check into the situation.

Later that night, the witness said she called Hammock over concern for the little girl. At that point he said he had checked the girl in an area the witness felt was unnecessary and she became even more concerned that Hammock was involved and called social service. 

The next witness was the child’s mother who explained that her father had moved from Minot to Bottineau; and, how Hammock cared for her child for about four months in Bottineau because she had taken on a new nighttime job in Minot and didn’t have anyone to care for her daughter. 

In January of 2014, social service called her in Minot and explained what was going on. At that time, she came to Bottineau and brought her child home.

In cross-examination, Foster asked the mother that when she visited her child in Bottineau if she noticed any sign of abuse and the mother commented no. 

The child who was the victim of the crimes, and who is presently six-years-old, also took the witness stand. Benson had her identify body parts of both genders, if she could count to 10 and do the alphabet, which she had no trouble in doing so.

He also asked her numerous questions, which she shouldn’t have had any knowledge about at her age, but was able to answer the questions with no difficulty. 

At one point in the questioning, Benson asked the child if she could identify the man who had committed the crimes against her. The girl pointed to her grandfather.   

At this time in the trial, Benson presented a video of a forensic evidence interview the child had with social service where she described in detail information the child shouldn’t have any knowledge of that had taken place between her and a person she called grandpa through the majority of the interview. 

While questioning the child, both the prosecution and defense saw some inconsistency with what the child said.     

Another witness was Bottineau County deputy, Tyler Wolfe, who investigated Hammock’s home and brought Hammock into the police station for questioning. Wolfe stated that items were collected in the home and sent away for evidence, but that no DNA was found on the items.

Wolfe was also asked about the interview, which the deputy stated that at the beginning of the interview Hammock denied any wrong doing with his granddaughter, but later in the one hour and 48- minute interview he broke down and stated that something had happened.

The defense attorney, Nicole Foster from Williston, called no witnesses for the defense. 

However, in her closing arguments, Foster stated the child never named her grandfather in the crime, only that the child referred to the person who committed the crime against her as “papa,” “grandpa” and “grandpa dad,” which turned out to be names the child referred to while speaking to or about her grandfather.   

Although Hammock never took the stand, he was vociferous about his innocence during the trial and often made gestures with his hands and head even though Sturdevant and his attorney asked him to stay quiet. Hammock went as far to interrupt the prosecution while questioning a law enforcement officer by standing up and yelling at the officer that he was “a liar” with profanities.

VERDICT

With closing arguments completed, Sturdevant turned the case over to the jury, which included seven men and five women. The jury discussed the case for about 40 minutes and came back with a verdict of guilty. 

Sturdevant then revoked Hammock’s bond and placed him under the custody of Bottineau County Sheriff Steve Watson. 

Foster requested from Sturdevant not to revoke her client’s bond. However, Sturdevant denied the request and stated that Hammock’s offense was a “serious crime of a Double ‘A’ Felony” and that he was uncomfortable revoking his bond due to the charge, especially after his out of control actions in courtroom during the trial.

A Double ‘A’ Felony carries a maximum sentence of life without parole.