Attorneys for the state and defense made opening statements in the rape trial of Bradley Uren Wednesday and one witness took the stand before adjournment.
The jury selection process was a lengthy one given the nature of the case and a panel was not seated until well after the noon hour.
Uren and his now ex-wife, Jennifer Uren-Helton, were arrested in early 2020. Uren was charged with three counts of rape, stemming from alleged sexual contacts with his two minor daughters. Two counts of permitting child abuse were filed against Jennifer Uren-Helton.
At the time the victims were 10 and 13 years old. They are now 13 and 16. Both girls, who are now living out-of-state, are expected to take the stand and testify in the case against their father.
In his opening argument to the jury, Deputy Prosecutor John Russo said the state was confident it would prove the allegations against Uren. He said evidence would show one of the girls reported her father had touched her inappropriately, but the other victim initially said nothing had happened.
Russo said, however, the jury would hear evidence that the denial by the one sister soon morphed into an accusation that her father had touched her with his penis.
In his opening statement to the jury, defense attorney Tony Pirani of Fayetteville said his client had since is arrest “consistently and adamantly denied” that he had ever molested his young daughters. Pirani said Uren had denied the allegation through several interviews conducted shortly after he was taken into custody, but in one sit down with an investigator on , he did make incriminating statements.
A tape of the interview was first played during the evidence suppression hearing June 29 and was played for the jury Thursday. In the interview, Uren says, “I ain’t molested any of these kids.” As the interview continued, however, Uren became more emotional, asking the investigator, “can’t we cut an agreement?” Uren said he “had to avoid prison” because he wanted to keep his family together and needed to take care of his ailing father as well.
During the interview, Uren began to cry. The outright denials regarding any instances of inappropriate sexual contact with the two young sisters became more confessional in nature. Uren is shown on the tape admitting he had touched the girls and said he “felt real bad about it.” He said the encounters only took place “a couple of times” with each child. He told the investigator he had no idea why he had made the inappropriate contacts and was “sorry about it.”
At times during the interview, Uren had his head in his hands or laid it on the table in front of him.
Uren’s defense attorney said his client had been manipulated by the investigator and “tricked” into making what amounted to a confession of guilt. He said his client had a low IQ and little education making him “a prime candidate for manipulation” in a custodial type interview. Pirani alleged “the answers were basically fed to him.”
Pirani told the jury that there was more to the situation leading to the charges against his client than court records showed. He said other people were involved. “There is a larger story behind these charges,” Pirani said, “including things that were going on in Bradley Uren’s life and his family.” The Fayetteville attorney asked the jury not to “let the state gloss over what’s missing in this story.”
Pirani mentioned a step-brother as one of those people and alleged that one of the two young victims and the step brother had sent messages of a sexual nature to each other. Pirani said the step-brother and his biological father “had a definite animosity toward Bradley Uren.” The step brother is the person who apparently made the initial report on alleged sexual activity between Bradley Uren and his two daughters.
Many of the records in the case that are open to the public show Uren and his now ex-wife had what appears to have been a tumultuous marriage. They have both filed for orders of protection against each other.
In his petition, Bradley Uren accused his ex-wife of wanting to sell one of their children to one of her relatives for $10,000. He also alleged his former wife and unnamed individuals “have a conspiracy” to get him out of the picture.
Uren said his ex-wife was violent with him, consorted with known criminals and made threats to “find someone to take care of him.”
In her petition, Jennifer Uren-Helton alleges her ex-husband had assaulted her several times, tried to break her arm and threatened her life and the lives of the couple’s children. She said her husband had put “peep holes” in their home along Swaying Oak Drive in Gassville enabling him to watch “every move” other family members made.
Lt. Brad Hurst of the criminal investigation division of the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office was the only witness to take the stand Wednesday. Pirani spent much of his time questioning Hurst on evidence gathered during the investigation that had been lost. The items were bed linens taken from the bunk beds where the two young victims slept.
Hurst said the items were were to be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for testing, including for bodily fluids. Hurst said it was his understanding some of the inappropriate sexual activity had taken place on those beds.
But, the items apparently never arrived at the lab and could not be located at the sheriff’s office.
Pirani told the jury the type tests to be run on the missing items could have produced evidence that would show if Bradley Uren is guilty of the charges against him or not — but “that evidence is gone.” The defense attorney told the jury that testing of the lost items could have also shown if other people were involved, “but no one knows where they are,” Pirani said.
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