Jun. 12—Attorneys made their opening statements Tuesday in a jury trial of a Moulton man accused of groping a 10-year-old Danville girl in August 2017.

Andrew Steven Cooper, 34, was charged by a Morgan County grand jury with sex abuse of a child under 12 — a Class B felony — in September 2018, court records show. He was released from jail shortly after his arrest on a $5,000 bond to await trial. He has pleaded not guilty.

Cooper’s trial was originally set to begin in May of last year, but Assistant District Attorney Joe Lewis moved the court to dismiss the case after he believed the alleged victim had failed to appear. Apparently, Lewis didn’t realize the victim was actually “on call” for the trial, according to another motion he filed a few days later asking the court to rescind the dismissal.

Tom DiGiulian, Cooper’s attorney, called the case’s reinstatement of the case “unjust” and “unfair” to his client and objected to it, to no avail. The trial was rescheduled to Monday.

Cooper, with short-cropped hair, khakis and a red tie sat next to DiGiulian in Circuit Judge Jennifer Howell’s courtroom Tuesday morning. In the gallery, near the prosecution, sat a handful of people who wore motorcycle vests. The vests read: “Bikers Against Child Abuse.”

“Back in August of 2017, (the victim) was 10 years old,” Lewis began with his opening. He said the victim lived with her mother, stepfather and three younger siblings in the Danville area. “Cooper was 27. He knew the family because he had been in a relationship with the victim’s mother.”

Lewis said Cooper and the mother had one child together.

“The defendant appears to have been something of a drifter,” Lewis said. The victim’s stepfather helped Cooper get a job working with him on the night shift and sometimes let Cooper sleep on the sofa in the family’s living room, according to Lewis.

Lewis said Cooper was staying in the victim’s home around Aug. 22, 2017. The victim was asleep in her bedroom with two younger siblings when, according to Lewis, she felt someone crawl into bed with her at around 5 a.m.

“He grabbed her so that she couldn’t move,” Lewis said, and groped her with his fingers in the vaginal area.

The victim told Cooper to stop and that it hurt, according to Lewis. That afternoon, after she returned home from school, the victim allegedly told her mother what had happened. Lewis said Cooper was kicked out of the home and stopped working with the victim’s stepfather.

The mother “didn’t immediately notify authorities,” Lewis said. On Aug. 28, 2017, DHR went to the victim’s home, and the victim later gave a forensic interview that was audio and video recorded, according to Lewis. He said the jury will likely get to see the interview.

“Once you have seen all the evidence … I’m going to ask you to return a verdict of guilty,” Lewis closed.

DiGiulian, in his opening statement, suggested that Cooper and the victim’s mother continued their romantic relationship, unbeknownst to the stepfather, leading up to the date of the alleged offense.

“Shortly before (the victim) reported this, Cooper disciplined (the victim) for being disrespectful,” DiGiulian said. He said the victim was mad at Cooper.

DiGiulian emphasized the uncontested fact that the mother didn’t immediately report it. After she confronted Cooper about the allegation, according to DiGiulian, Cooper left the home of his own volition.

“Don’t make your mind up just based on what you hear from the State,” DiGiulian said. “Please keep an open mind until you’ve heard all of the evidence.”

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— david.gambino@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.