For the second trial in a row, a 9-year-old girl stood tall on the witness stand.

Clutching a blue teddy bear and a pink unicorn, the girl testified that she and her two younger sisters were sexually abused by Stonie Butler and Stephen Hughes.

For the second trial in a row, such testimony led to a conviction.

A jury deliberated Friday for just under two hours before finding Hughes guilty as charged of three counts of rape and three counts of gross sexual imposition in Richland County Common Pleas Court.

“We now have 24 people that have decided that (girl) was telling the truth. That’s powerful,” Assistant Prosecutor Lauryn Calderhead said. “I believe it was her testimony alone that convinced the jurors. We’ll find out when we talk to them.”

Calderhead was emotional as Judge Phil Naumoff read the verdicts.

“It’s been a very long road from the very beginning,” she said. “When justice prevails, it can move you, and it really moved me this time.”

The six-man, six-woman jury got the case at about 3:15 p.m. Friday, after Hughes had testified.

Defense attorney respects jury’s decision

“Of course we are disappointed and disagree with the finding,” defense attorney Benjamin Zushin said, adding the jurors seemed engaged throughout the trial.

At the same time, he said he and Hughes felt sympathy for the victims and the family.

Isis and Sommer Eaton, who are the legal guardians of the girls, held hands as Naumoff prepared to read the verdicts. There were tears on both sides of the gallery. Eight people were on hand to support Hughes.

When the verdicts were read, his supporters were let out of the courtroom first. Loud swearing could be heard outside the courtroom, prompting Prosecutor Jodie Schumacher to ask for court security to accompany her staff and the Eatons back to the office.

At the prosecutor’s office, Calderhead kept coming back to the 9-year-old, who was 6 and 7 when the abuse occurred.

“She is a compelling, sweet little girl. She is,” Calderhead said.

The assistant prosecutor pointed to a graphic reference the girl made on the witness stand that proved she was telling the truth.

“When I was directing Dr. (Robin) Tener on the stand, that was one of the things that she had a visible reaction to,” Calderhead said of the reference. “That was something that only an abuser would say, and that is something a child wouldn’t consider important.”

Hughes would have served 35 years in prison in plea bargain

Naumoff had offered Hughes a 35-year prison sentence if he had pleaded guilty.

“Stephen said he was going to try to succeed at trial,” Calderhead said. “I think he tried by putting himself on the stand.”

Hughes took a big chance because Naumoff had sentenced his brother to three consecutive life terms this past summer.

“It was something he was aware of, and it was something that was in consideration,” Zushin said. “It did not change his innocence in his mind.”

Of the decision to testify, Zushin said of his client, “It was important to him to be able to have the peace of mind to be able to explain his own innocence.”

Naumoff scheduled sentencing for 2:30 p.m. Feb. 16. Because of the age of the girls, Hughes could receive life in prison.

Zushin said Hughes will appeal the conviction.

Calderhead said the defendant didn’t do himself any favors on the witness stand.

Assistant prosecutor: Hughes made ‘key concessions’ on witness stand

“He made some very key concessions,” she said. “He put himself in the house with (9-year-old). He couldn’t deny his access to her. He couldn’t deny that he was there within the time frame that she described.”

Hughes, who described a transient lifestyle in which he bounced from place to place, was staying at the apartment with Butler and his girlfriend. The three girls had been dropped off by their birth mother, who was rarely a presence in their lives.

Isis and Sommer Eaton are raising the girls in Marion. Isis Eaton became emotional as she reflected on the case.

“It’s relieving,” she said, her voice cracking. “It’s like wanting to cry and smile at the same time.

“I have watched this change our daughter since 2019, and now she gets to move on. That’s the only thing I care about, that she gets to move on.”

She praised her daughter for her courage.

“She’s doing really well,” Eaton said. “She’s the strongest, smartest little girl I know.”

mcaudill@gannett.com

419-521-7219

X (formerly Twitter): @MarkCau32059251

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ohio girl’s testimony pivotal in man’s conviction on 3 rape charges