Predator’s Luck Hasn’t Run Out Yet

A man considered one of the West’s most insatiable sexual predators, and who walked out of an Orange County jail in April 2004 after his conviction on sexual assault charges was overturned, was granted a mistrial in his latest case when an alleged victim referred on the witness stand to his criminal history.

Because of the potentially prejudicial testimony, an Oregon judge declared a mistrial last week in the case against Edward Stokes, who has a long history of dodging stiff punishments. His series of assaults of boys and young men -- in his own words -- span a generation and were committed in at least four states, including California.

A new jury was seated this week and testimony has resumed in the Portland, Ore., courtroom of Multnomah County Judge Alicia A. Fuchs.

“Clearly, the victim knew he made a mistake. It happens. Witnesses get nervous and excited, and they just say things,” Bob Misner, a judge’s assistant, said Tuesday. “We’re back where we started.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Howes, the lead prosecutor, declined to comment. Stokes’ public defenders could not be reached.

For others involved in Stokes’ past and present cases, the mistrial was a reminder of how prosecutions have been dismantled through Stokes’ luck or indefatigable legal challenges. But they recognize the importance of eliminating any testimony that might serve as grounds for an appeal.

“Although by his own admission, Mr. Stokes may be one of the most serious sexual predators in the United States, he is entitled to his day in court,” said a longtime prisoner rights activist named Crusader, who had his name legally changed from Andrew Wexler and who worked in Orange County as a court-appointed paralegal for Stokes. “Quite frankly, it’s better there is a mistrial at the get-go, than to have a conviction overruled on appeal.”

Susan Stokes, who has become one of her brother’s top adversaries and testified against him last week, said she just wanted to put the lifelong ordeal behind her. She said she dreaded the prospect of having to travel again from the Seattle area to Portland to take the stand.

“I’m weary. It’s worn me down,” she said. “I’d like some closure for everybody concerned, so everyone can move on in whatever way they need to.”

Stokes, by his own count, has molested more than 200 people dating to the 1970s. He has been convicted in at least five sexual assault cases and spent more than 20 years behind bars. But even when he had been caught, he managed to avoid a lengthy prison term, get free again and find new victims.

Along the way, some of the cases against him have been weakened or dropped because of unreliable or uncooperative victims, many of them drug-impaired runaways and teens in trouble with the law. He also has successfully flooded the courts with appeals for lighter sentences.

In 2002, Orange County authorities thought they had locked up Stokes for good after they said he molested Blue Kartak, a teenage runaway whom he held captive in a motel near Disneyland.

But last year, an appeals court overturned his conviction, agreeing that Stokes had been deprived of his right to cross-examine a victim who had killed himself before previously undisclosed police evidence surfaced.

The case now unfolding in Oregon was filed weeks after Stokes was freed under the appellate ruling in California. A Multnomah County grand jury indicted him for the alleged sexual assaults of three young men in 1995 and 1996. Although the statute of limitations for the charges is six years, prosecutors argued the clock stopped when Stokes left for California with Kartak.

During pretrial hearings, Fuchs had ruled that two previous alleged victims -- one from 1992 and another from 1996 -- could testify that Stokes tried to sodomize them or to have forcible sex. This was admissible for the purpose of showing that the defendant had the intent or the necessary mental state to commit the crimes for which he is being tried. She also decided that the jury could not hear about his Orange County conviction.

When the trial got underway last week, one of these witnesses, a Louisiana man who is now a firefighter, testified that he did not initially interpret the advances by Stokes as harmful, but then added that he might have if he had known of “his criminal history.”

“That’s all that came out of his mouth before the defense jumped up and asked for a mistrial,” Misner said. “That’s pretty prejudicial to the defendant, so the judge granted it.”

The trial is expected to continue through next week.