Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A Covington County jury returned a verdict of not guilty in a trial where a defendant was accused of sodomy involving young children.

James Thomas Lamont, 41, of Red Level faced three counts of first degree sodomy and one count of assault with bodily fluids, involving two children.

Lamont was arrested in May 2023 and released on bond. At his indictment hearing, he was held in jail under Aniah’s Law for approximately 16 months. Aniah’s Law provides Alabama judges the authority to deny bail to defendants accused of violent crimes.

After hearing testimony and evidence during a three-day trial this week, the jury deliberated for about two hours before returning a not-guilty verdict on all charges Thursday, including the consideration of a lesser offense of sexual abuse.

Riley Powell, attorney for the defendant, said the case relied solely on the allegations of the two children.

“[The state] had clothing examined with the Department of Forensic Science and no DNA or medical evidence was found. The children were checked out through the normal procedures with the Covington Advocacy Center and sexual assault examinations and no evidence came from that,” Riley said. “Bottom line, the only evidence at all was the kids’ allegations, and their stories changed wildly. At first, the older of the two children said nothing happened then, about seven months later, came back and changed the story stating that sodomy did happen.”

Assistant District Attorney Nikki Stephens, who represented the State at trial, said, “I respect the jury’s verdict, but I obviously thought the evidence said otherwise. Unfortunately, we live in a world where society expects there’s always an abundance of physical and forensic evidence, and that simply isn’t true. People don’t sexually abuse children in front of other people, so there are never eyewitnesses. And, unfortunately, the real-world cases will never be as complete as in the TV world.

“A not guilty verdict doesn’t mean he’s innocent, but rather a jury’s pronouncement that they didn’t feel there was enough evidence. There will be future cases like this one where our best evidence will be the word of the kids, and we will prosecute that with the same vigor. A child’s word should never be disregarded.”

Even with the not guilty verdict, Riley said his client’s life will be forever changed and that he spent 16 months in jail.

“It was a very difficult and emotional case for everybody,” Riley said. “The biggest challenge [a defendant] faces in these type of cases is overcoming the assumption of guilt before hearing a shred of evidence. It’s a battle we face in these type of cases. But, this jury did a great job of cutting through the emotion and getting down to what the actual evidence and facts were in this case. It’s a hard thing; you want to protect the child on one hand, but you have to do what is fair on the other hand,” Riley said.

District Attorney Walt Merrell said he appreciated the work of those involved in the case.

“I appreciate the hard work and long hours that so many folks dedicated to these children. Mindy Barton and the staff at the Child Advocacy Center worked tirelessly on this case, as did Investigator Aaron Rodriguez and Nikki Stephens. Their dedication never wavers to ‘the least of these.’”