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Merriwether man given 45 years for criminal
sexual conduct conviction Edgefielddaily.com web posted October 15, 2005 EDGEFIELD – Friday saw the end of the two day criminal sexual conduct trial of Tommy S. Adams, 50, of Clarks Hill. The case, prosecuted by Assistant Solicitor Irvin Maye, was based completely on the testimony of the young girl who made the accusations with the absence of any supporting physical evidence. The case stems from her accusations that molestation had taken place beginning in 1999 through 2002. The girl was seven years old at the time. With the jury reaching a verdict of guilty after four hours of deliberation over two days Judge John Few sentenced Mr. Adams to 45 years in prison, basically a life sentence for Mr. Adams. The only two witnesses on the stand for the state were the young girl and former Edgefield County Sheriff’s CSC Investigator Bledsoe. Rather stoic, but brave in her testimony, the girl recounted serious accusations in rather broad and general terms only getting specific on one claim during her time on the stand. Three doctors had examined the girl and no evidence of the claims were found. That was a hurdle Assistant Solicitor Maye had to overcome with the nine woman, three man jury, who were instructed not to make any conclusion before going to deliberations. Mr. Maye’s claimed Mr. Adams had full "intercourse" with the girl during closing arguments which had several of the women on the jury shaking their heads in agreement even though three medical doctors could not support that claim. Mr. Maye said he did not need evidence, just the girl’s words. Defense attorney James Huff of North Augusta put several family members on the stand to establish that the accusations did not fit the description families had of Mr. Adams. He insisted the lack of evidence demanded a not guilty verdict. The jury was deadlocked, we are told, with a nine guilty to three innocent voting on Thursday afternoon. Deliberations were allowed to be taken up again on Friday morning and after just over another hour and a half they reached the verdict of guilty on both counts. Most observers thought with no physical evidence the best the state could hope for was a conviction of the lewd act on a minor charge and a not guilty verdict on the criminal sexual conduct charge due to the deadlocked jury earlier. Even with the surprise verdict all were stunned when Judge John Few sentenced Mr. Adams to 15 years for the lewd act charge and 30 years on the criminal sexual conduct charge to run consecutively, a life sentence for the fifty year old man. Mr. Adams' ex-wife and family members wept quietly as the verdict and sentence were read, breaking down after leaving the courtroom. Mr. Adams' oldest daughter wept uncontrollably and had to be supported by her husband. Mr. Adams’ attorney, James Huff, said he would be filing an appeal of the conviction within the next ten days in addition to motions involving certain legal matters regarding the trial. We did not seek comment from the victim or her mother after the trial as their privacy is respected though she did e-mail the Editor later in the day. Related stories: Criminal Sexual Conduct trail moves into second day of deliberations
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