The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

Local News

November 6, 2009

Man, 70, found guilty of sex crimes

A 70-year-old Dalton man charged with child sex crimes took his case to a jury and was found guilty in Whitfield County Superior Court. James Melvin Tudor was sentenced to 25-years-to-life and will spend the next 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole, court officials said.

Tudor, of 638 Tilton Road S.E., was found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual battery, four counts of child molestation and one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes. He was arrested in April.

“The controlling charge — the aggravated sexual battery — determines the sentence and is one of Georgia’s seven deadly sin sentences to be served without parole,” said District Attorney Kermit McManus. “It carries a 25-years-to-life sentence and he will not get parole before 25 years.”

Judge William Boyett passed down the sentence after a unanimous guilty verdict. A clerk of court spokeswoman said if Tudor gets out of prison he will be on probation for the rest of his life. The child molestation counts carry six years each, and the enticement charge is a 10-year sentence. Those will be served concurrently.

McManus said Tudor was charged with molesting three separate girls around 6 years old.

“One of the children started making disclosures when she was being bathed by her mother,” he said. “The child was seen by a sex assault nurse examiner. I don’t think it was a situation where (Tudor and the girls) were related, but he was acting in a baby-sitting capacity when the girls were not having school. But it’s not a stranger-stranger situation.”

Circuit public defender Mike McCarthy represented Tudor and admitted the verdict “did not go well at all.”

“He had two different girls who accused him of fondling them, and a third girl who witnessed when the touching of another girl was happening,” he said. “The state also brought in an allegation from a girl who said the same thing happened to her 10 years ago — she’s 18 now — and it was very harmful (testimony) to him.”

McCarthy said Tudor actually got the minimum on the charges, but “he’ll be 95 before he sees the light of day again.”

“We’ll file an appeal in the near future, but that will take some time,” he said. “He’s in custody and will be shipped off (to the state prison system) in the near future.”

Local News
  • nhms recycling assembly1.jpg New Hope Middle awarded recycling cart

    Recycling Ben, mascot for the Target Recycling program, presented the seventh-grade class at New Hope Middle School an award for having the highest recycling rate during the second quarter of the 2009-2010 school year.

    March 17, 2010 1 Photo

  • Brochu: ‘They came to me and recruited me’

    Whitfield County Schools Superintendent Katie Brochu didn’t apply to become superintendent of a South Carolina school district — she was recruited there, she said.

    March 17, 2010

  • mc baseball field.jpg Murray high schools reach field use agreement

    John Raley is not happy North Murray High School is being charged $200 per baseball game to play at Appalachian Community Bank Stadium, Murray County High School’s home field.

    March 17, 2010 1 Photo

  • David Akins2.jpg Dalton native earns Seabee honor

    Cynthia Pendley said she and her family were “shocked” when her brother, David Akins, came home and told them he had enlisted in the Navy at age 19.

    March 17, 2010 1 Photo

  • Name not released by Whitfield school system

    The Whitfield County Board of Education is scheduled to hold a public hearing Thursday under the Georgia Fair Dismissal Act.

    March 17, 2010

  • Residents wary of scams

    Dalton Police cited two men on Wednesday for trying to sell magazine subscriptions for troops deployed overseas without a city license.

    March 17, 2010

  • Dawn seeks to change guilty plea

    A personal care home manager who was sentenced to prison for stealing drugs from senior residents has asked for a hearing to change his plea to not guilty.

    March 17, 2010

  • Stephens says voters are concerned about future

    Voters are very concerned “and even a little bit scared” about where the United States is going as a country, says former Georgia Senate Majority Leader Bill Stephens.

    March 17, 2010

  • DPD looks for “hot” wheels

    The Dalton Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating and identifying a thief who stole a set of Ballistic-brand wheels worth $3,000 from the bed of the owner’s truck on March 3.

    March 17, 2010

  • Habitat groundbreaking Saturday

    The groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 1791 Carter Drive on Saturday at 9 a.m. to launch the building of a home for the Edgar Gutierrez family. The George R. Johnson Foundation is sponsor for the building of this house.

    March 17, 2010

Community Calendar

Loading…
Events by eviesays.com

AP Video