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Deputy exonerated in rape case

• A former Sumter County deputy was indicted in 2007 for child molestation, false imprisonment and rape.

J.D. Sumner

AMERICUS — A rape charge against a former Sumter County Sheriff’s Deputy has been dismissed after prosecutors say that an appeals court decision barred what was called a crucial piece of evidence from being used in court, authorities said.

Wesley Stanfield was indicted in February 2007 for child molestation, false imprisonment and rape charges allegedly stemming from a 2001 incident, District Attorney Cecilia Cooper said.

The child molestation and false imprisonment charges were dropped after the statute of limitations for both counts expired, Cooper said. Monday, Judge James Sizemore accepted Cooper’s motion to dismiss the rape count, freeing Stanfield.

“He feels great,” Stanfield’s attorney, Jim Finklestein, said Thursday. “My contention from the beginning was that this case never should’ve been prosecuted.”

According to Finklestein, just before the trial was set to begin, Sizemore ruled that statements Stanfield allegedly made to GBI agents were inadmissable in court, prompting Cooper to challenge the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

“Without those statements, I couldn’t prosecute,” Cooper said.

Finklestein said that as the case developed, there was no physical evidence that any crime had occurred, that the alleged victim in the case had previously made false allegations of prior crimes including sexual assaults by family members, and that she had a history of mental illness.

“It is impossible to restore a person’s reputation when he has been falsely accused. But the false accusations in this case cost Mr. Stanfield his job with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department and received a large amount of publicity in and around Americus, Georgia, Mr. Stanfield’s hometown,” Finklestein wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.

“Unfortunately, me, 23 grand jurors, a GBI agent and the other law enforcement agencies believed the victim, mind you I’m shocked that the defense attorney doesn’t,” Cooper said.

Finklestein said that Stanfield would like an opportunity to get his job back with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office but was unsure if he had approached Sheriff Pete Smith.

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