Patton man gets arraignment date for alleged statutory rape

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- James Primer, 41, of Patton, Mo., was bound over to Circuit Court Division II on Wednesday to stand trial for statutory rape and child molestation. Primer is accused of having sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl that resulted in the birth of a child. Primer is scheduled to be arraigned in front of Judge Benjamin Lewis at 9 a.m. today. He remains in the Bollinger County Jail.

At Wednesday's preliminary hearing before Associate Circuit Judge Scott Thomsen, Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Gray asked that the hearing be left open so that he could question several witnesses he was not able to question that day. A date of Jan. 27 was set for the continuation.

Before Primer goes to trial, a juvenile court judge will have to determine if the victim, now 15, might have testimony against Primer that could incriminate her. Twice under Gray's questioning, the girl invoked the Fifth Amendment, declining to answer Gray's question about her pregnancy and declining to identify Primer as the father of her child.

Another man, Brandon E. Johnson, 20, had been jailed as a suspect after the girl, who was about 16 weeks' pregnant at the time, identified him to the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence as the father of her child. Johnson admitted that he knew the victim, but denied having sex with her.

She said she had met Johnson at a party in Marble Hill, described his appearance and said no one else could be the father.

According to testimony from Wednesday's hearing, the Bollinger County Sheriff's Department received information that Primer could be a suspect. Chief Deputy Stash Petton testified that he obtained DNA samples from him Primer that ultimately identified him as the child's father. Charges against Johnson were dropped and he was released from jail.

Defense attorney Malcolm Montgomery argued that interrogation tapes from Primer's arrest interview show that Primer remembers events that happened before and following the alleged encounter, but knows only what he was told about the actual act, and did not himself admit to having had sex with the girl.