Judge: 'Work things out.' Prosecution, defense joust in woman's child sex assault trial
The second day of testimony in the child sexual assault trial of Brittany Ann Rouleau barely started Thursday before 89th District Court Judge Charles Barnard admonished attorneys on both sides to work together to avoid delays and interruptions.
The trial has been marked by multiple objections and sessions at the judge’s bench, and jurors have trooped in and out of the courtroom several times.
The panel had just seated themselves Thursday when the judge sent them from the courtroom as prosecutors and defense attorney Lee Ann Marsh clashed over which videos could be shown.
“Work things out, and let’s not interrupt this trial anymore between now and the verdict," Barnard told the attorneys. “I don’t want to lose this jury. I want them to show up.”
Barnard ruled an interview with the victim could be shown but a police interview with Rouleau could not.
Rouleau is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child in connection with an alleged incident involving a male relative.
She was being held Thursday in Wichita County Jail on $1.3 million in bonds for Wichita County charges, according to jail and court records. Her bail in Clay County for an unrelated murder charge is $600,000.
In a video of an interview at Patsy’s House Children's Advocacy Center shown to jurors Thursday, the victim told an interviewer about incidents when he was about 12 years old in 2018. He said he was routinely sleeping in the same bed as Rouleau in a house in Wichita Falls, and on one occasion she sexually assaulted him.
He also described another assault he said occurred when the family was living in Lewisville.
Wichita Falls police detective Robert Welch, who investigated the allegations, was on the stand as the video was played.
He told jurors he had seen the interview with the alleged victim and had interviewed Rouleau and a neighbor. Under questioning by Marsh he admitted the case came down to which person he chose to believe.
The prosecution also called a psychologist with expertise in child sexual abuse to the stand.
Lindsey Dula testified that delays between an incident and the time a victim reports it are common.
In this case, the outcry came a couple of years after the alleged incidents.
She said most of the time the victim is abused by someone they know and trust.
After the prosecution rested, Marsh called to the stand a couple with whom Rouleau and the victim had once lived.
Both testified they had seen no sexual activity between the two and that Rouleau made sure her children had everything they needed.
Attorneys will make closing arguments Friday, and the jury will get the case. If convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child, Rouleau could receive up to life in prison.
In the Clay County murder case, she is suspected of stabbing Kenneth Dewayne Douglas, 57, in the heart on March 24, 2023. Murder carries a punishment of up to life in prison.
More: Jury selected for trial of woman accused of sexually assaulting young boy
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls detective testifies in Rouleau's sex assault trial
