A 65-year-old St. Joseph man accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl awaited his fate Tuesday night after his two-day trial concluded in Buchanan County Circuit Court.

A jury of eight women and four men began deliberating a little before 4 p.m. Tuesday but didn't reach a verdict by Tuesday evening.

The alleged victim claims that Roger Lee Clark, who lived in the same house with the girl at the time, sexually assaulted her three times during July and August of last year. During the third time, the girl said her 8-year-old brother walked in on Mr. Clark and her and tried to stop it, telling him to get off his sister.

The defendant is charged with statutory sodomy and deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 14 years. According to his testimony, Mr. Clark served five years in a Kansas prison for sexual molestation in 1970.

Mr. Clark took the stand Tuesday, needing a walker to get there. He said the disability stemmed from a 2005 car accident, though he was able to walk at the time of the alleged crime because of a medication he was taking.

He said he never sexually touched the alleged victim and that he walked in on the brother and sister having sex on three occasions. He claimed he informed the children's mother, who told him to just ignore the kids.

But he appeared confused during cross examination from Assistant County Prosecutor Pam Blevins. At first, Mr. Clark said he walked in on the children, told them to stop and then left. When Ms. Blevins pressed Mr. Clark for answers regarding his statement to St. Joseph police detectives, he waffled between leaving the room immediately or not.

He eventually told Ms. Blevins, "I did put my head between her legs and left," but was adamant he did not touch the child.

In closing arguments, Mr. Clark's attorney, public defender Sue Rinne, argued the children have mental disorders and their stories contained numerous inconsistencies. Ms. Rinne said the alleged victim's different versions of what happened should lead jurors to question the validity of the story.

Ms. Rinne also pointed to the safe test, which revealed no physical evidence of an assault, that the girl received at Children's Mercy Hospital the day after the alleged third incident.

Ms. Blevins countered that the alleged victim wanted Mr. Clark to leave because he was sexually assaulting the girl. Ms. Blevins drew on the testimony of Joyce Estes, the director of the Northwest Missouri Children's Advocacy Center in St. Joseph.

Ms. Estes, who interviewed the girl three times, said children have trouble putting together time lines. She added they mix up the order of events or do not recall everything properly in one sitting. Ms. Estes also asserted children feel guilt over sexual assault and sometimes reveal details slowly to see if they're in trouble.

But Ms. Estes said that as long as the details of what happened, not necessarily the order, remain the same, that's what potentially validates these stories - testimony upon which Ms. Blevins drew heavily in her final comments.

R.J. Cooper can be reached at rjcooper@npgco.com.