Published: August 05, 2008 03:34 pm            

Elam found guilty in rape

Pine Knot man agrees to serve 12 years

WILLIAMSBURG — A Pine Knot man accused of first-degree rape has been convicted by a Whitley County jury.

Jeffery Lynn Elam, 40, was convicted of the charge on Thursday following approximately two hours of deliberations by an eight-woman, four-man jury. The charge was the result of an assault which occurred in May 2007 in Parkers Lake.

Elam was granted a change of venue to Whitley County, which prosecutors did not oppose, based on affidavits and media coverage.

Commonwealth Attorney Allen Trimble’s first witness was Kentucky State Police Trooper Phillips Hayes, who testified that he responded to Corder’s AutoMart on the afternoon of May 9, 2007, where he met with a female claiming that she had been raped on a Forest Service road off KY 1045. Trooper Hayes recounted taking photographs of the victim’s injuries which included abrasions around her neck where she had been choked and cuts on her legs where she had traveled through the woods to escape her attacker.

At the time, the victim — who had been hitchhiking southbound on US 27 — could not name her attacker but described him as an older man with gray hair driving a mid-size bronze car with round tail lights.

The subsequent publicity drew the attention of Elizabeth Upchurch, who testified that she contacted authorities about her coworker, Jeff Elam, whom she had seen picking up a girl along US 27 the day of the attack.

“I asked him about it the next day,” Upchurch testified. “He said, ‘What girl? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”

With a suspect, authorities were able to produce a “photo lineup” from which the victim identified Elam. He was arrested at his home on May 24, where he admitted to KSP Detective Billy Correll that he had sex with the woman but claimed that she told him “she wanted to make some extra money.”

During the arrest, authorities had warrants to obtain a DNA sample and also seized Elam’s wedding band, which was engraved with crosses as described by the victim.

The victim’s grandfather testified next about how he was called to Corder’s and how he went directly to the scene where he found his granddaughter’s clothes, which he then turned over to Trooper Hayes.

Bridget Holbrook, forensic science specialist for the KSP Central Laboratory in Frankfort, tested evidence collected in the case including a sexual assault kit assembled at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital and the DNA sample from Elam. Holbrook testified that Elam’s DNA matched samples taken from the victim’s vaginal canal and right forearm to the degree that the chance of male being someone else was “one in 1.2 quadrillion.”

Trimble called the victim herself to the stand as his last witness. She tearfully recounted the events of that afternoon, which began with her accepting a ride to Whitley City from Elam. As they traveled, Elam told her that he needed to make a stop and drove up Beulah Heights Road to the gravel road at the top of the hill. When that road deadended, the victim said Elam put the car in park and told her she “would pay for the ride.”

The victim testified that she struggled during the rape but could not get away until Elam was distracted by a ringing cell phone. Elam caught up with her as she tried to get to the road and told her he “had to do something” because she had seen his face. She told the court that Elam let her go when she said she was in the National Guard and people would be looking for her. But instead of letting her follow the road, he directed her to follow a power line path back toward US 27.

“I’ve lived in McCreary County my whole life,” the victim said. “I never expected something like that to happen around home — especially with someone older.”

Defense attorney Hugh Richards had to cross examine the victim away from the defense table so that she would not have to look at Elam during her testimony. He questioned her about spending the night before with friends at the Day Ridge Road residence of Anthony Bloodworth as well as her military training.

Richards then called Elam’s wife Tammy as his first witness. Mrs. Elam testified to her husband’s character, saying that he could not be a violent person.

Richards then called Bloodworth to the stand and finally Elam himself.

Elam’s recall of events largely matched the victim’s except for the matter of who initiated the sexual encounter and when the struggle began. The defendant testified that the woman became angry when he stopped and refused to pay her. Elam testified that he grabbed her arm to get her out of the car and may have grabbed her neck at that point. He did not know for sure why she ran off.

“I never saw marks on her neck at all,” Elam testified. “I wasn’t pulling that hard.”

Elam said that he rushed from the scene because he was in a hurry to get to his second job.

Once Richards rested his case, the jury had the option to continue the case into Friday but opted to hear closing arguments and deliberate. They received the case at approximately 5:55 p.m. and returned the verdict of guilty shortly after 8 p.m. Elam then agreed to the Commonwealth’s offer of a 12-year sentence.

A formal sentencing is scheduled in Whitley County next month.

        

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