Judge orders man to stand trial in molestation case
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Friday a Las Vegas man was ordered to stand trial on charges that he sexually molested his young daughter.
Harry Dashawn Van Dyke, 46, was in court for the judge’s ruling on Friday afternoon at the end of his preliminary hearing.
Van Dyke has remained in custody since his Sept. 6 arrest by the Clearlake Police Department.
Dressed in an orange and white jumpsuit, he sat in the jury box, with his defense attorney, Andrea Sullivan beside him.
The child’s mother reported the alleged abuse in February to the Clearlake Police Department, which investigated the case. Senior Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg said the case was filed in April.
Van Dyke – a musician, producer and actor – was living out of state when he was arrested in September, Borg said.
The abuse is alleged to have taken place from Aug. 1 to Nov. 25, 2015, when Van Dyke’s daughter was 5 years old, Borg said.
On Friday afternoon, Judge Andrew Blum heard arguments from both Borg and Sullivan as the preliminary hearing wrapped up.
Sullivan raised issues of the child being coached during her interview with investigators, while Borg argued there was ample evidence presented to support the charges at the preliminary hearing phase.
Blum said he went through recordings of the child’s interview with investigators as well as the transcripts. He noted major errors in the transcripts, including the failure to record the child’s statement, “My real dad molested me,” noting that Sullivan had raised those issues also.
The judge went on to point out that several questions and answers recorded in the interview also were not found in the transcript.
He said the evidentiary level at this point in the process was pretty low, “But, still, prelim means something.”
As such, he dismissed the first count in the case, which alleged sexual intercourse with a child under age 10, which results in a life sentence on conviction, as he said the evidence failed to meet the “strong suspicion” standard.
What remained were two counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child, which carries a 10-year sentence on conviction. Blum said the child related incidents that those charges were based on several times, and he didn’t see coaching in the interviews.
“There is no corroboration as we know, but that’s not unusual,” said Blum, noting that such crimes are not usually committed with witnesses.
The child had told the investigator that her mother had walked in during one incident in which her father was touching her, but the mother denied that. Blum said the woman has no ax to grind, and the mother’s denial of that incident significantly weakens the child’s story.
Blum paused, chin on his hand. “It’s a strong suspicion, that’s all it is at this point, and I think they’ve met that standard,” he finally said, referring to the prosecution.
However, he said the case didn’t meet the level of being beyond a reasonable doubt, and so he dismissed the charge alleging intercourse due to lack of evidence – “I have no idea if it happened or not” – and instead held Van Dyke to answer on the two lewd and lascivious charges.
Sullivan also asked to revisit Van Dyke’s bail amount.
Van Dyke has been held on $1 million bail for the charge alleging intercourse, however, with that dropped, Judge Blum was willing to reduce bail to $100,000.
Blum ordered Van Dyke to return to court for arraignment on the information at 8:15 a.m. Nov. 27.
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