Court Orders New Trial for Man Convicted of Molesting Girl, 3

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeal on Friday reversed the conviction of Luis Gillespie for transporting an infant from Ecuador for illegal sexual purposes, and ordered that he receive a new trial.

Gillespie, the adoptive son of millionaire tobacco executive David Gillespie, was convicted in Los Angeles federal court last year and sentenced to ten years in prison after testimony by a nanny, who said she saw him sexually assault the child in his Hancock Park residence when the child was 3 years old.

Luis Gillespie denied the nanny’s account, but he did not dispute medical evidence that the child had been molested.

He suggested that either the molestation had occurred in Ecuador or that the nanny herself had performed an unauthorized examination of the child’s genitals.

The appeals court ruled that U.S. District Judge David Kenyon, who presided at the trial, erred by allowing prejudicial and irrelevant testimony that Luis and David Gillespie had a homosexual relationship.

Both had visited Ecuador and decided to bring the child, who was Luis’ goddaughter, to this country. Using a false birth record, David obtained custody of the child, According to court records. David Gillespie was not charged with a crime.

The appeals court also said Kenyon abused his discretion when he allowed a psychologist, testifying as a government witness, to describe what he said were typical characteristics of a child molester.

The appeals court also said Kenyon erred by permitting testimony from the child’s therapist that the child’s behavior with anatomically correct dolls showed she had been molested by a man.