Dateline: May 10, 2007

Jury convicts sex offender

A Lelia Lake man was found guilty of Indecency with a Child last Wednesday and is facing an additional charge after he did not show up for the sentencing portion of his trial on Thursday.

A Donley County Jury convicted Gabriel M. Callis on a charge that he had inappropriate sexual contact with a child under the age of 17 with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of himself. The incident happened on New Year’s Day during a sleepover.

The jury also found Callis not guilty of a second count of the same charge.

Jurors heard testimony of two prior assaults the defendant had committed, but Callis had no prior history of sex offenses, District Attorney Stuart Messer said.

Callis missed his 8 a.m. court time Thursday for the sentencing phase of his trial, according to Sheriff Butch Blackburn.

The dispatcher at the sheriff’s office logged a call at 7:57 a.m. that a man in Lelia Lake was threatening suicide. Deputies Randy Bond, Mike Spier, and Kelly Hill responded to the call and found Callis wielding a knife and threatening to harm himself, Blackburn said.

“Chief Deputy Randy Bond was able to talk him out of doing anything,” the sheriff said.

At the courthouse, District Judge David McCoy ordered Blackburn to arrest Callis and place him in the Donley County Jail on a charge of Failure to Appear.

Messer said the jurors were kept unaware of Callis’ suicide threat and his arrest so as not to prejudice their decision in the case before them.

While the defendant was in custody, the jury determined that Callis receive a sentence of five years confinement probated to eight years probation and a fine of $10,000 probated to $5,000.

“If he violates his probation, a judge could sentence him up to five years in prison,” Messer said.

The district attorney also said Callis will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

“I appreciate the hard work of the sheriff’s office and the jurors in this case,” Messer said.

Callis was arraigned Thursday by County Judge Jack Hall for the Failure to Appear Charge and was released Friday on $20,000 bond.

“Failure to Appear is a third degree felony, and that charge will now have to go through the court process,” Blackburn said.

Messer’s office said a third degree felony could carry a sentence of two to ten years.