Charge dismissed

The Duncan Banner

DUNCAN March 20, 2007 05:13 pm

— A Marlow man convicted of lewd molestation 11 years ago won a motion for a new trial on Feb. 16, because the alleged victim has now withdrawn her accusations against him.
Last week, attorneys with the Stephens County’s District Attorney’s office decided to dismiss the charge against Kenneth Dean Austin, now 60, which effectively erases both the conviction and the requirement to maintain contact with probation and parole officials as a registered sex offender.
Austin was found guilty of the molestation of his pre-teen stepdaughter during a jury trial in August of 1995.
He received a sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He served a little over two years in prison before being paroled in October of 1997.
In July of 2006, Austin’s attorney filed a motion to have the conviction set aside.
First Assistant District Attorney Dennis Gay said that his office was unable to make contact with the alleged victim during the process.
“The only means we had to contact the victim was through the defense lawyer,” he said.
During the hearing in February, the now 25-year-old stepdaughter testified that she had falsely accused Austin because she was angry at him, and the judge ruled that Austin deserved a new trial.
Gay said the state decided not to proceed because, “the victim has recanted her original testimony and the state cannot proceed without her testimony.”
Gay said that during the original trial there were corroborating witnesses, such as a DHS social worker and a co-worker of Austin’s from the radio station, but neither was strong enough to convict without the testimony of the alleged victim.
“Our position is that we had sufficient evidence to convict when it was heard by a jury,” said Gay. “I think the evidence we had of his guilt at that time is better than the evidence now to show he’s not guilty.”
“The old verdict was thrown out,” said Austin Monday. Austin sent a press release to neighboring media outlets dated March 11 stating he was “released of any wrongdoing.”
“The DA’s office lost their only witness,” Austin continued Monday. “And they don’t want to try it again.”
Austin, manager of KFXI radio in Marlow, has now been removed from the sex offender’s list and will not have to register his address with local law enforcement officials in the future.