Waco woman testifies about sexual abuse as a teenager

WACO, Texas (KWTX) – A Waco woman testified Wednesday that she was 15 years old and was drinking Pink Whitney vodka and “smoking weed” with her best friend when her friend's godfather had sexually assaulted her at a residence on Homan Avenue in March 2020.

Her friend's godfather, Michael Ross Parker, 32, is on trial in 19th State District Court in Waco on two counts of sexual assault of a child, second-degree felonies upgraded to felonies first degree due to Parker's criminal past.

The woman, now 20, told the jury of seven women and five men that she dropped out of high school during her sophomore year after a close friend was murdered and another was killed in a car accident a few days apart and she fell. in a depressed and anxious state.

At that time, she lived with her mother and grandmother. She testified that her mother worked nights and slept during the day, and that they often had a contentious relationship. During those times, she stayed with her best friend, Daisha Elliott, on Homan Avenue, telling jurors that on the afternoon she was sexually assaulted, she was drunk and high on the alcohol and marijuana they had taken. provided Parker, who was 27 at the time. .

She testified that she was home alone with Elliott and Parker when Elliott received a text message from Parker, who was watching television in another bedroom. He told Elliott he wanted to perform a sex act on the teen, she said.

She said that although she wasn't a virgin, she hadn't experienced what Parker was offering. So she agreed to go into the room with him.

“I had a lot of thoughts going through my head,” she said. “I was wondering: did I want to let him do it or not, was it too late to say anything?

She said that after the sexual act, she got up to leave and Parker asked her where she was going.

“He said, 'We're going to finish.' I didn't stop him. I just laid there,” she said. “I thought, ‘Stop, you don’t have to do this,’ but I was scared.”

She said Parker sexually assaulted her and she went into the bathroom and started crying. A year later, the teen told a medical examiner, Kerry Burkley, and Dr. Soo Battle, a sexual assault examiner, that she had experienced pain and bleeding after the assault. Burkley and Battle also testified Wednesday.

The woman testified that she did not tell Elliott about the assault, and that the two men donned matching shirts that Parker had made for them, went to the mall with friends, and posted videos on social media later in the evening.

Although it was acknowledged that she had previously been depressed and had attempted suicide by overdosing on over-the-counter painkillers “several times” and cutting her wrists, she said her condition The emotional aftermath of the sexual assault had alienated her from her mother and friends and landed her in a psychiatric ward.

She finally told her mother about the assault a year later, she said, during an argument at her grandmother's house. She said she grabbed a piece of glass and locked herself in the bathroom. His mother broke down the door and asked him what was happening.

“I said, ‘If you really knew me, you would know I was raped,’ and I slit my wrist one last time and passed out,” she said.

Prosecutors Tara Avants and Jessica Washington rested their case after testimony from Battle and Lee Carter, a Waco psychologist.

During defense testimony Wednesday, Parker's attorney, Brian Pollard, called Elliott, who testified remotely from Michigan.

Elliott, now 19, told jurors she was very close to Parker, her godfather, saying, “He took care of me in a way my father couldn't.” She said she too suffered from depression and that Parker saved her by convincing her not to kill herself.

She denied that she, Parker and the teen were alone in the Homan Avenue residence that day, telling jurors there were at least seven other people, including four children, in the home throughout the entire time. time she and the teenager were there.

She denied that Parker, who has six children with five different women and another child on the way, ever texted her about having sex with the girl and said they were never alone in the same room.

She also denied that Parker gave them marijuana and vodka that day. She called the woman a liar and told Avants during cross-examination that she had no idea why she would make up the story of Parker's sexual assault. They are no longer friends, she said.

In other defense testimony, Elliott's mother, Shannon Williams, and Shana Perez, Parker's pregnant girlfriend, both said Parker was a good person and an “entrepreneur” who they said would not sexually assault a young girl.

“He’s my best friend,” Williams said. “I opened my house to him.”

Pollard finished his case Wednesday evening. Avants and Washington hope to call an impeachable witness Thursday morning who reported that Parker sexually assaulted her in 2008. Visiting Judge Roy Sparkman will hold a hearing before deciding whether the testimony is admissible over Pollard's objections.

If convicted of sexual assault, Parker faces between five and 99 years in prison, or up to life in prison. Parker's charges were upgraded to first-degree felonies due to a 2016 felony conviction for possession of amphetamine for which he was sentenced to three years in prison.

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