BENTONVILLE -- A jury will decide whether Ali Matar Jr. preyed on three of his kindergarten students or is an innocent man who falsely confessed to committing a crime.
The seven women and five men deliberated Thursday afternoon for almost two hours before they returning to the courtroom.
At A Glance
Adventure Club
Adventure Club is run by Bentonville’s School District’s Childcare Enrichment Services department. It offers child care from 6 to 7:30 a.m. and from 2:30 to 6 p.m. during the school year for students in kindergarten through sixth grade at each of the district’s elementary and middle schools. Ali Matar was hired in October 2013 and fired in May 2014 after his arrest.
Source: Staff Report
The jury asked Circuit Judge Brad Karren to watch Matar's interrogation on two large screens in the courtroom instead of the small screen on a laptop in the jury room.
Prosecutors and Matar's attorneys approved the request. Karren closed his courtroom for jurors to watch the recording. The jury wanted to watch only portions of the interview. They couldn't deliberate in the courtroom and the judge had deputies at the doors to prevent someone from walking in.
The panel was able to watch the portions of the interview. The judge ended their deliberation at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Jurors will return at 8:30 a.m. and resume the deliberation.
Matar, 22, of Lowell is charged with rape, a Class Y felony, and two counts of sexual assault in the second degree, a Class B felony.
He worked for the Bentonville School District as a leader for Adventure Club at R.E. Baker Elementary School. He's accused of sexually abusing three of his former students. One girl was 5 years old and the other two were 6 years old when Matar was arrested in May.
The rape charge concerns the then 5-year-old. The sexual assault charges concern the two older girls.
Jurors heard closing arguments from the attorneys earlier Thursday..
Nathan Smith, Benton County prosecutor, showed jurors photographs of the three girls.
"This case is about these children and what happened to them at the hands of Ali Matar when he was a leader of Adventure Club at R.E. Baker Elementary," Smith said in his closing statements.
Smith told the jury Matar molested and violated the children.
The jury had heard the three girls' testimony and they also heard from Matar by watching his recorded confession to raping the 5-year-old girl, Smith said.
"This is something no child should have to tell anyone, but they got up here and told you what happened to them," Smith said.
Smith urged jurors to believe the girls and Matar's confession instead of Matar's claims police had tricked or forced him into falsely confessing to the crime.
Justin Hurst, one of Matar's attorneys, said his client was never alone with the children and he usually was in rooms with other children, teachers and even parents.
Hurst was very critical of Matar's police interrogation. He claimed Bentonville detectives lied to Matar and used techniques and strategies to obtain a false confession from him.
Detectives Dahrron Moss and Chris Moffitt questioned Matar when he admitted to inappropriately touching the then 5-year-old girl at least four times.
The detectives were searching for a conviction instead of trying to establish the truth, Hurst said.
Moss and Moffitt "worked over" Matar so much they convinced Matar he committed the crimes, Hurst said.
"What an unbelievable job these two detectives did on this young man," Hurst said.
Hurst told jurors there was no physical or DNA evidence against Matar. The 5-year-old girl also was examined by a nurse and had no physical injuries, Hurst said.
Carly Marshall, deputy prosecutor, had the last words before the jury began their deliberation. She urged the panel to believe the three girls.
"They told you things that no first grader should have to tell you," Marshall said.
The girls have no reasons to lie, Marshall said.
Matar testified in his defense Thursday morning. He denied sexually abusing any child. Matar claimed he was pressured by police into making the confession.
The three girls said Matar touched them inappropriately while they were at the after-school program.
Matar is being held in the Benton County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
Matar faces from 25 to 40 years or life for the rape charge If convicted. He can be sentenced from five to 20 years for each of the sexual assault charges.
NW News on 01/30/2015