Trial Begins for Danielle Dewitt

Today began the first day of trial for a former Hancock High School assistant female basketball coach accused of inappropriate sexual contact with a student.
The defendant, Danielle Dewitt, showed up to the Hancock County Courthouse today in front of Judge Lawrence Bourgeois Jr. She was accompanied by her lawyer, Jim Davis.
During an opening statement, state attorneys Allison Baker and Christopher Daniel alleged the sexual conduct between Dewitt and the student she was coaching stemmed from team bonding sleepovers.
The state attorneys asked the jury to find Dewitt guilty of two counts of sexual battery and three counts of touching for lustful purposes.
The first witness the court heard from was the victim’s mother who stated Dewitt was like family until she heard of the allegations. She also said she received a text message from Dewitt that read “should I turn myself in?”
The prosecution also presented the court with a conversation recorded when the victim’s mother confronted Dewitt. The victim’s primary care physician was the second witness called.
News 25 caught up with Dewitt’s attorney Jim Davis as court adjourned for the day. “This case is moving rather slow. Both families, this is a local Hancock County type of dispute. Both of the families know a lot of people so that resulted in it being kind of a slow jury selection process. Both sides have about 20 witnesses subpoenaed. So, we’ll see when we get there. I don’t expect we’ll be putting on any defense or anything until Friday. The case may go into next week. We’ll just have to see.”
The trial is set to resume tomorrow morning.

Categories: Crime, Local News, News

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