Hearings Continue For Jones Teens Accused Of Raping Girl With Down Syndrome

A group of teens accused of rape and oral sodomy against a girl with Down Syndrome continued preliminary hearings at the Oklahoma County District Court Monday. The hearing sparked many emotions including frustration from the judge.

One of the accused is serving as a witness for the state. He received intense questioning from the defense. That questioning poked holes in the boy's story, made him appear to be lying, prompted threats of perjury charges and had the judge calling his testimony useless.

Two of the defendants left court Monday with strict instructions from their lawyers not to talk to news media.

It's a case that has been working its way through the justice system since April when two 17-year-old boys were charged with raping a 17-year-old girl with down syndrome. Police say it happened in February in Choctaw.

A younger boy is also accused of performing oral sex on the victim.

The state says 19-year-old Rusty Begay was present when it all took place. Begay is accused of doing nothing to stop crime and is charged with performing oral sex on one of the boys.

One of the accused worked out a deal with the state, that in exchange for testifying against his co-defendants, he would be released after a successful completion of a one-year juvenile sentence. He had to plead guilty to the charges in order to make the deal.

However, on the stand Monday, he claimed he did not understand what he was being accused of and said he did not know what a guilty plea was.

That boy was caught lying to the court during much of his testimony causing Judge Larry Jones to say that any further testimony from him would be worthless to the court and a waste of everyone's time.

Both of the 17-year-old boys are being charged as youthful offenders. The case will not be heading to trial just yet. The next preliminary court date is scheduled for July 20. The defendants were students at Jones High School.