After mistrial, Snohomish prosecutors to retry Port Townsend man accused of child molestation

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Snohomish County prosecutors plan to retry the case of a Port Townsend man charged with first-degree child molestation.

A Snohomish County Superior Court judge declared a mistrial in November after jurors failed to deliver a unanimous verdict as to whether Joshua David Larson, 41, molested a girl under the age of 12 known to him during a 2013 Thanksgiving Day family gathering in Stanwood, Washington.

That case is now set to be retried beginning Jan. 19, 2016, said Laura Twitchell, Snohomish deputy prosecutor.

“I could have dismissed it,” she said, “but I have the evidence to support my charge.”

Jefferson County Deputy Prosecutor Julie Trejo refiled charges against Larson on Oct. 29, 2015 in Jefferson County Superior Court, specifically first-degree rape of a child and first-degree child molestation.

Jefferson County prosecutors in March 2015 dismissed without prejudice two counts of first-degree child molestation, allowing them to refile later as Snohomish County prosecutors proceeded with their case.

In spite of Snohomish County's mistrial and charges refiled in Jefferson County, Larson is expected to remain in custody in Snohomish County until his January trial, Twitchell said.

CLALLAM ACQUITTAL

A Clallam County jury acquitted Larson in March of allegedly molesting a girl under the age of 12 at the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center in May 2014.

In a first for Clallam County, the court allowed the girl to testify via closed-circuit television so she would not have to face Larson in the courtroom.

The court did not allow prosecutors to tell the jury about Larson’s past child molestation acquittal in King County or his then-pending child molestation cases in Jefferson and Snohomish counties.

SNOHOMISH MISTRIAL

Rather than testifying by closed-circuit television, the girl in the Snohomish County case testified in open court, because prosecutors did not believe they could show that doing so would traumatize her enough to prevent her from reasonably communicating at trial, Twitchell said.

As opposed to the Clallam County case, Snohomish County prosecutors were allowed to tell the jury about Larson's past, as well as bring witnesses to testify about past incidents.

Larson was arrested in Bothell in 1998 on a child molestation charge after a girl under the age of 12 reported he had abused her, according to court documents. A jury found him not guilty.

Upon Larson’s 1998 arrest, another girl reported he had molested her in 1994 when she was a child. Larson had convinced her family she was mistaken and not to call police, according to court documents.

That girl testified in the Snohomish County trial, as did Larson's accuser in the Clallam County case as well as his accuser in the Jefferson County case.

“Unfortunately, they're all going to have to testify again,” Twitchell said, adding that convincing the court to allow such testimony was difficult. “We argued about it for months. It was a struggle. But none of that has to be argued again [in this case].”

JEFFERSON CHARGES

Port Townsend police assisted Sequim police on May 23, 2014 in arresting Larson in connection with the Clallam County charge at his Port Townsend home.

Five days later, on May 28, 2014, the parents of a girl under the age of 12 in Port Townsend reported that their daughter told them Larson had molested her during a sleepover playdate at Larson’s home, according to court documents.

That incident, according to interviews with the girl, occurred with Larson’s minor child present in the same room.

Investigators learned of a possible second incident during a July 2014 interview with the girl, who said Larson touched her during a sleepover in early 2013.