Jurors to decide abuse case
By John Joyce
Published in News on March 8, 2015 1:50 AM
jjoyce@newsargus.com
A jury of 12 Wayne County citizens will return Monday to decide whether to convict a former Goldsboro police captain of sexually abusing his stepdaughter.
For the rest of this weekend, however, Chad Calloway, 44, remains free.
Calloway is on trial for allegedly sexually abusing his stepdaughter, Diamond Coley Smith, from the time she was 9 years old until shortly after her 15th birthday. She is 28 now.
Calloway denies the allegations, claiming the accusations came as a result of a disagreement with his stepdaughter over dating rules.
Deliberations began Friday, but with no verdict reached by 3:15 p.m., Superior Court Judge Kenneth F. Crow excused the jurors until Monday.
Earlier in the day Friday, assitant district attorneys Rachel Larsen and Kimberly Overton split the state's closing arguments, with defense attorney Geoff Hulse's closing sandwiched in between.
Mrs. Larsen argued first and said the state met its obligation to fully satisfy and to entirely convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that each crime Calloway is charged with had in fact been committed.
She used the metaphor that the state's job is to satisfy -- like a snack -- and not to fill the jurors up, as would a four-course meal.
Hulse, using a metaphor of his own, asked if the jury was convinced Calloway was a monster who had the ability to "clap on and clap off" his sexual depravity.
He argued that there was a lack of physical evidence and no motive for Calloway to have committed the crime.
He showed photographs of the Calloway family -- together alone and with friends -- on vacation, all smiles.
He also cited Wayne Health Department records entered into evidence during testimony, that showed Mrs. Smith went there at age 15 and told nurses at the clinic she had never been sexually active.
Hulse said the victim's mother, Monica Calloway, took her daughter to the health department to get on birth control at the same age Mrs. Colley had been when she first became pregnant -- not because her daughter had been sexually abused.
Lastly, Mrs. Overton concluded the state's closing arguments by asking the jury to decide for itself who was lying -- either the Calloways -- or everyone else.
She said Mrs. Smith had nothing to gain by falsely accusing Calloway of sexual abuse. He had provided for her all her life, made sure she had a college education, the latest gadgets and that she wanted for nothing.
"That is all over now," Mrs. Overton said.
Mrs. Smith has lost her relationship with her mother, her sister and many of her friends, Mrs. Overton argued.
And, if as the defense asserts, Mrs. Smith made up the allegations so she could better serve in her capacity as a counselor to rape victims, she did not gain much there, she said.
"They don't get paid very much," she argued. "And that is not a club you want to be in."
The assistant district attorney said the jury, if it were to acquit Calloway, would also have to believe that several other people -- former high school cheerleading coach and now high school principal Joyce Best, pastor William Mitchell, two agents from the State Bureau of Investigation and Mrs. Smith's grandmother Verlee Edwards -- were also lying.
After allowing them to select a foreman and to deliberate for a little more than one hour, Crow dismissed the jury until 9:30 a.m. Monday. He instructed the jury not to discuss the case and not to do any independent research.
Through his attorney, Calloway declined to comment.
Mrs. Smith said she will wait to speak publicly until after the verdict.