After the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned his prior conviction, an admitted child molester entered a guilty plea this week in Yazoo County Circuit Court.
Curtis White, 37, pleaded guilty to two counts of gratification of lust and two counts of statutory rape last Wednesday.
Judge Jannie Lewis sentenced White to 20 years with 12 to serve in prison, along with seven years’ probation. He is to also required to register as a sex offender and have no contact with the victims or their families.
District Attorney Akillie Malone-Oliver said the victims’ families are relieved to not endure another trial.
“The stress of enduring a second trial was a lot for the young victims, and the state was pleased that Curtis White gave the victims closure by finally admitting his crimes and will forever be required to register as a sex offender.”
White was first convicted on Aug. 27, 2015 of two counts of gratification of lust and one count of statutory rape. He was sentenced to 38 years in prison in a trial that was a rollercoaster of emotions covering a history of sexual abuse from victims as young as 12 years old.
However, White appealed his conviction, and the Mississippi Supreme Court granted him another trial on the grounds that the first trial had a “plethora of reversible errors.”
“White timely appealed and argues that the Circuit Court committed a plethora of reversible errors,” the Supreme Court ruling states. “We agree. Because the Circuit Court repeatedly abused its discretion and violated White’s constitutional rights of due process and a fair trial by an impartial jury, we reverse and remand…”
The Supreme Court said White was denied the opportunity to authenticate evidence of electronic communications between himself and the victims. The Court also said “numerous prejudicial, inflammatory and improper comments” were made throughout the original trial that “served no other purpose than to inflame the passion and prejudice of the jury against White.”
Repeated references to White as a “pedophile and predator” were considered “shocking and high prejudicial and not tolerated” by the Supreme Court.
Based on those findings, the Supreme Court ordered a new trial.
But this week, White admitted his guilt in the sexual crimes rather than continue into another trial. He left the Yazoo County courtroom Wednesday morning to serve 12 years in prison, with credit for time already served.
White admitted his guilt involving having sexual relationships with three underaged females. The relationships stem back to 2005 when he had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl when he was 20 years old at the time. He then had sexual relationships with a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl in 2014, when he was 32 years old.
“I do not contest these facts,” White said.
“The family was in agreement with this plea and happy that the young victims can now move forward and not have to rehash the details of his sinister deeds,” Malone-Oliver added.
