Carmel—
Fox59 has learned people close to Jesse Jackson and Reverend Al Sharpton have talked with attorney Bob Turner who represents the 14-year-old Freshman victim in the Carmel assault case." I have been contacted by a number of national sources but I won't reveal who they were," said Turner.
Turner won't say if he is seeking Jackson and Sharpton's help to put more pressure on Hamilton County Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp in the case she says the grand jury felt only amounted to misdemeanor charges.
But three weeks ago, one of the victim's parents spoke.
"I don't want to give details because even now I struggle with it," said the 14-year-old victim's father. "I still struggle with that conversation."
But what Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp did and didn't ask during the grand jury cloaked in secrecy remains a big question. Turner wonders if Leerkamp steered witnesses from key testimony that would have brought felony charges. He says he wonders if they heard all the evidence including testimony from his client.
"I find it very hard to believe this witness(my client) did not talk about the sexual nature of these attacks because they(the attacks) were nothing but sex, that ultimately resulted in his clothes being removed and anal penetration," said Turner. That kind of attack other prosecutors following the case tell Fox59 would absolutely warrant felony charges.
Leerkamp is out of the state and unavailable for comment. Fox59 has invited her to respond to the accusations when she returns June 22nd. But others in Carmel also remain skeptical of her handling of the case.
"Her presentation and charges that have been brought are a disgrace to the Hamilton county prosecutor's office and her profession," said Susan Kaake, as she read from a letter she sent to Leerkamp, Carmel's school superintendent, and other city and state leaders.
Kaake, a mother of two Carmel graduates, wrote the letter because she is angry about the handling of the case. She feels Leerkamp has protected the perpetrators more than the victims.
"The community knows what happened, statutory rape occurred," said Kaake in another excerpt from her letter.
"I have a friend whose son was on that school bus and described what happened and yes, it was sexual assault," said Kaake.
