LIHUE — Jury selection in the Fifth Circuit Court was completed Monday in the retrial of a man accused of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl more than 20 years ago. Steven Westerman was 19 years old when he is alleged
LIHUE — Jury selection in the Fifth Circuit Court was completed Monday in the retrial of a man accused of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl more than 20 years ago.
Steven Westerman was 19 years old when he is alleged to have committed six counts of sexual assault in the first degree, a class A felony, against his stepdaughter in 1995 through 1997.
“I just hope that I get a fair trial,” Westerman, 40, told The Garden Island.
Westerman’s 2014 trial was declared a mistrial after former prosecutor Lisa Arin questioned a witness suggesting his testimony might be biased because his son was dealing with his own sexual assault case on Honolulu.
Westerman has been on supervised release for three years.
The six-count indictment, filed Oct. 25, 2012 by the state, alleges Westerman knowingly engaged in sexual penetration with his stepdaughter, who was less than 14 years old at the time between June 1995 and May 1997.
The statute of limitations did not run out because the alleged victim was under the age of 18 years, according to the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
Westerman has two children —one with the alleged victim’s mother and one with another woman — and is said to have committed the acts after the 6-year-old victim’s parents were divorced. His own daughter was born in 1995.
The alleged incidents reportedly stopped when the victim was 7 years old. Westerman joined the military in 1997.
On Nov. 21, 2012, Westerman was arrested in Washington. Bail was set to $100,000. He was extradited back to Kauai.
In the previous trial, both Westerman and the victim testified.
Defense attorney Craig De Costa said in the previous trial the state had no DNA evidence to prove his client had committed the alleged acts.
The victim was 24 years old at the time of the first trial. She revealed her alleged abuse at the age of 16 years old.
The information was revealed to her parents, a social worker, the Children’s Justice Center, the police and the courts, according to testimony from the previous trial.
By the end of the day on Monday, 75 jurors became 12 and three alternates.
Westerman is the son of Kauai Fire Chief Robert Westerman.
Opening statements begin today. The retrial is expected to last all week and possibly into next week.
