By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
A Carterville man has entered an Alford plea to a charge that he sexually abused a minor about three years ago.
Leonard R. Binns, 45, entered the plea last week in Jasper County Circuit Court to a reduced charge of second-degree statutory sodomy in a plea agreement with the county prosecutor’s office. Binns originally was charged with first-degree statutory sodomy and armed criminal action.
Binns was scheduled to go to trial this month. Under terms of the plea agreement, the count of armed criminal action would be dismissed, and the prison time the defendant might be assessed would be limited to no more than five years.
An Alford plea admits no guilt but acknowledges that a conviction is likely if the case were to go to trial.
Circuit Judge Gayle Crane delayed formal acceptance or rejection of the plea agreement and ordered the completion of a sentencing assessment report. Binns will be sentenced Jan. 4.
The girl was younger than 14 when the abuse allegedly took place before Christmas of 2006, according to court records. Binns took the girl to his home, pushed her onto a bed, shoved a sock in her mouth and put a knife to her throat, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
He then undressed the girl, put a pornographic movie on his television set and proceeded to sexually assault the victim, the affidavit states. The girl reportedly kept telling him to stop and he finally did, apologizing to her and offering to buy her anything she wanted, the affidavit states.
The girl detailed the assault in an interview at the Children’s Center in Joplin. The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department later served a search warrant at the defendant’s home. Deputies reportedly found pornographic material, a knife believed to be the one described by the victim, and pictures of the girl, one of which was in the defendant’s wallet, according to the affidavit.
