Former Gallatin Police officer Michael S. Bailey found not guilty of 27 counts of statutory rape and statutory sodomy Tuesday night in Clinton County Circuit Court
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An 10-man, two-woman jury found former Gallatin police officer Michael S. Bailey not guilty of 27 counts of statutory rape and statutory sodomy Tuesday night, June 8, in Clinton County Circuit Court.
Bailey, 36, was accused of having sex with three Gallatin teens while on and off duty as a police officer over a span of several months during 2002 and 2003. Charges originated last August in Daviess County but the case moved to Plattsburg on a change of venue. One count was dismissed yesterday by Judge Stephen Griffin.
Bailey remains in custody, still facing three misdemeanor counts that will be heard separately.
The jury deliberated just over four hours before the court was reconvened at about 7:30 p.m. yesterday. Response from the 30 or so people in the courtroom when the verdict was announced was said to be emotional.
Defense attorney Sharon Nelson, a public defender assigned to the case from the Livingston County office, was involved in a case in Carroll County this morning prior to printing deadline and unavailable for comment. Daviess County Prosecutor Julia Filley also was unavailable for comment this morning.
The trial progressed quickly and lasted only half of the scheduled four days. The testimony stated by the teenagers was necessarily explicit; thus, some of the following accounts may be offensive to some readers. After opening statements Monday morning, testimony was given late into Monday afternoon.
Mr. Bailey took the witness stand yesterday in his own defense soon after proceedings resumed at 8 a.m. His attorney, state appointed defender Sharon Nelson, specifically and repeatedly asked Bailey about each of the accusations made by female teenagers during their testimony. Bailey denied having sexual contact in every instance; he countered that on one sexual encounter alleged against him, he wasn’t in Gallatin at the time but was with his family at St. Joseph visiting his mother.
When Prosecutor Filley asked how three witnesses alleged so many felony counts of rape and sodomy against him, Bailey simply answered that the girls were mistaken.
The defense cross-examined three teenagers on Monday to question the accuracy of some details of location. The details were given in describing some of the places where sexual encounters occurred — at a secluded firing range, at the eastern end of the Gallatin city dump on Gallatin’s north side, at a shed at Dockery Park, and at the Bailey residence then located on South Olive Street.
Testimony also identified additional locations where Bailey and the teenage witnesses talked or spent time together either alone or among other people. This included Teen Beat meetings (a youth program promoted by city police), a haunted house project during Halloween, and at the Gallatin swimming pool where Bailey’s wife, Barbara, worked and later resigned as pool manager.
Allegations of sexual encounters were described by the teenage witnesses while Bailey was both on duty and during his off-duty hours as a Gallatin policeman. The testimony stated by the teenagers was necessarily explicit.
On the witness stand and under oath, the teenage witnesses were asked to state any physical features that would specifically identify the defendant in facing these charges. All three teenagers testified that they were with Bailey while he was unclothed. On Monday one witness only described a tattoo on Bailey’s upper body while the others made a specific comment describing Bailey as having one testicle. During redirect, Prosecutor Filley established that the omission occurred by the way the question was posed at that particular time, and that all three teenagers identified Bailey in the same way.
Prosecutor Filley also entered five photographs into evidence, indicating a pattern of promiscuity by Bailey while he was employed as a city policeman. The photos were taken at the police department.
Police Chief Jim Wycoff testified that Bailey had used the department’s digital camera “inappropriately.” Chief Wycoff stated Bailey received verbal correction from him after one of the photo files was discovered by Sgt. Richards on one of the department’s computers.
During cross examination of Mr. Bailey by Prosecutor Filley, Bailey admitted that he received an employment reprimand after it became known that he allowed a teenage girl, one to later testify against him, to ride with him in the city patrol car.
Bailey described a brief 10-minute ride in town and denied ever taking the teenage witness to the shooting range; the testimony against Bailey described a ride which eventually led to a sexual encounter at the shooting range northeast of the city dump.
Daviess County Deputy Todd Watson was called by the prosecution to clarify details describing the entrance and the location of the shooting range.
The presentation of all evidence concluded by 10 a.m. yesterday with the jury given a recess until the trial resumed at noon.
Bailey was arrested by the Daviess County Sheriff’s Department on Aug. 12, 2003, after five teenage girls initially stepped forward with allegations. Bailey was fired soon thereafter by the City of Gallatin. The Navy veteran of Desert Shield and Desert Storm had been a patrol officer for about one year, newly graduated from the Police Academy at Missouri Western State College.
Bailey was held in custody during the trial on a $100,000 bond.
The verdict concludes the case where the former Gallatin police officer was initially charged last August with 12 counts of Statutory rape and 16 counts of statutory sodomy — all Class C felonies that each carried penalties of up to seven years in prison, one year in county jail and $5,000 fines upon conviction.