CHILD RAPIST SENTENCED Howard Dotson, Jr. Faces Justice After Years On The Run
Reported by: Kennie Bass
Videographer: Matt Durrett
Web Producer: Kennie Bass
Reported: Jan. 12, 2012 11:04 PM EST
Updated: Jan. 12, 2012 11:16 PM EST
EYEWITNESS ONLINE WEBCAST VIDEO C L I C K T O P L A Y
Madison
, Boone County
, West Virginia
12 years after running away...and more than 40 years after he started raping and sexually abusing his four young step-daughters, Howard Dotson, Jr. is found guilty on 89 counts.
It took Boone County Circuit Court Judge William Thompson nearly four minutes to read the verdict.
Dotson skipped town in 1998 the day before his trial on the sex charges was set to begin. He was arrested in Colorado in October 2009 after a traffic accident. Authorities figured out who he was and sent him back to West Virginia to face his four accusers.
They wept as the verdict was announced.
The state trooper who started working this case in 1995 is retired, but he was also in court to finally see justice delivered.
The jury deliberated about six hours before reaching a verdict. They asked several questions throughout the day concerning the indictment, the definition of intercourse and the difference between first and third degree sexual assault.
But at the end of the day, they delivered justice for the victims, one who was only 3-4 years old when the assaults began in the early 1970s..
Dotson's lawyer informed the media that if his client is assaulted in jail...Dotson will file lawsuits against Eyewitness News, another news media organization and Boone County Judge William Thompson for allowing his picture to be taken.
Dotson is facing a maximum sentence that lawyers estimate is more than three thousand years. Dotson is lodged in the Southwestern Regional Jail.
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Kennie Bass
