Greene County Prosecutor Jarrod Holtsclaw [Click to enlarge]

Greene County Prosecutor Jarrod Holtsclaw says justice was done when a Circuit Court jury from neighboring Knox County found a former Bloomfield man guilty Friday on four criminal counts related to child molestation and incest.

This was a tough case to prosecute and an even tougher case for the two teen girl victims to endure.

In fact, it was prosecuted twice, because the first trial in April ended in a mistrial because of a problem with a juror.

Holtsclaw says he will make a recommendation that the defendant, 37-year-old George A. Foote, Jr. receives a long prison term when he is sentenced on Sept. 30.

The first-term prosecutor said it was his intent to help provide justice for the two teen victims.

"I just feel really happy for the girls that they were vindicated. For all they had to go through, this jury clearly believed them, sympathized with them and the fact that they returned such a quick verdict shows they had no doubts that these girls had suffered tremendously at the hands of their own father. I really feel relief and also just happy that they've been vindicated," the told the Greene County Daily World. "Justice is being done and obviously we'll find out at the sentencing date what's going to happen."

When asked if he knows now what specific sentence recommendation he will make, Holtsclaw said, "WhatˆI will have to do is speak with the girls and get their input and also take a look at the pre-sentence report that the probation department will put together. I am positive I will have a recommendation and whatever my recommendation will be won't be enough to fix what happened to the girls, but it will be a strict recommendation."

Foote, who now lives in rural Sullivan County was found guilty of two counts of child molesting -- both class A felonies and was declared guilty of one count of incest -- a class B felony; and one count of incest -- a class C felony.

Foote faces between 48 and 128 years in prison -- plus a fine up to $40,000 -- based on presumptive sentencing guidelines.

The jury deliberated just 50 minutes on the fifth day of the trial before reaching a verdict. The case was heard by a Knox County jury that was transported to Bloomfield each day to hear testimony.

"I think it speaks well to how convincing the case was and how convincing the girls were," he said commenting on the very quick verdict that was reached before noon on Friday.

The six man, six woman jury was selected on Monday in Vincennes from a pool of 120 potential jurors from Knox County. A total of 78 individuals were interviewed before the final jury was selected.

"I am just really grateful to the people of Knox County for coming to this jury," he said. "I think it speaks well of the citizens of Knox County that they were willing to step forward and do that. The 14 people that were actually selected were very attentive. They took the matter seriously. And, I believe they did the right thing."

Holtsclaw said his heart went out to the two victims -- now 16 and 17 -- who have had to endure molestations dating back to at least 2004 when they were 13 and 12 years old respectively.

"Keep in mind these are young children who for almost their entire lives had been controlled by their father, sexually abused by their father and then asked at some point to have the courage -- despite threats from their father -- to come forward and tell somebody at school what's going on. Then, they get removed from their home and sent to two different foster homes. They to go through a 2 1/2 hour to 3 hour very detailed intrusive sexual assault evaluation (at the hospital)," Holtsclaw said. "Then they had to be re-interviewed and tell their story to other individuals. They had to go through a CHINS (Child in Need of Services) proceeding. They had to be deposed by the defense attorney. They had to come in front of a courtroom earlier this year -- in front of a lot of strangers and tell in graphic detail what their father was doing to them and making them do. Then to find out that they had to do it again (in a second trial) was crushing. So, it's really a tribute to them that they had the strength to come back and do it a second time."

The prosecutor said it was not an easy task for him to ask the probing questions he was forced to ask in order to give the detail the jury needed to understand the depth of the criminal acts.

"I hated that, but I had ask those detailed question so I could illicit the evidence in order for the jury determine that he (Foote) did in fact commit those crimes. It was very tough to have to talk to young girls about details of a sex life that they should have never had. And, to do it in front of strangers, it's amazing how strong the two of them were," Holtsclaw said.

He explained that he wishes nothing but the best for both young victims who candidly opened their lives so that justice could be done in this case.

"I was thinking even before the jury came back with their verdict -- regardless of the outcome of the case, the two girls were in a much better position now. They are in a caring, loving family right now. They are in a school system where they are able to focus on their academics and actually able to do some extracurricular activities. I feel for them that they are going to have difficulties throughout the rest of their lives for what they went through, but they are in far better place (in their foster home). So win or lose (the court case) it was the right thing for them coming forward," Holtsclaw explained. "I'm just glad we did win (the case) though."

The prosecutor hopes this case sends a couple different messages to both victims and perpetrators of sexual assault/molestation cases.

"Anyone out there suffering abuse, they need to come forward. There are people in our community that will help them out and we (the prosecutor's office) will do our best to investigate and prosecutor those people that we can," Holtsclaw pledged.

He continued, "I would hope that it also would send a message to those who are either violating children or thinking about doing it, that's it's not going to be tolerated in our county."

Prosecutor's office investigator Julie Martin, who headed up the behind the scenes investigation along with officials from the Department of Child Services, also is also relieved the ordeal is over.

"It's been a very long haul. It's been very hard for the girls (the victims). Justice has been served," Martin said after the jury had been dismissed.