STARKVILLE — After the presiding judge ruled they could, two witnesses testified here Wednesday they also were molested by a state trooper from Vicksburg accused of child sexual abuse.

Attorneys for Dane Davenport, 46, battled back with a slate of character witnesses and an expert in children’s traumatic memories and false sex-abuse allegations.

Charged with one count of fondling a child younger than 16, Davenport, if convicted, could be sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was expected to take the stand in his own defense today, the fourth day of his retrial. In another, previous trial in Warren County on similar charges, Davenport testified that he did not commit the acts of which he was accused, adding, “so help me God.”

The connections between the Warren County and the Oktibbeha County cases, already complicated by multiple accusations leveled by brothers and by both initial trials ending in mistrials, became more entangled with the ruling by Circuit Judge James Kitchens. Previously, testimony in criminal cases was usually limited to the specific acts for which a defendant has been on trial. However, a November state Supreme Court decision gives judges more latitude, saying other witnesses could be used to show a pattern of behavior in abuse cases.

The new witness, identified in court, said he was a childhood victim of Davenport’s abuse and, by coincidence, that he was in the initial jury pool for Davenport’s Warren County trial last September.

Timothy Wood, 24, testified he was excused from serving on the jury when he told presiding judge Isadore Patrick that he, Wood, had been sexually abused as a child. He did not name Davenport as his abuser at the time, he said, because Davenport was present in Patrick’s chambers with his attorneys and the state prosecutors and Wood felt uncomfortable. Recently, Wood testified, an investigator working for Davenport’s legal team came to see him and “threatened” to discredit him any way he could if Wood testified. It made him mad, and at that point, only after the meeting, he decided to come forward with his accusations.

In his testimony, Wood said Davenport fondled him “a half-dozen” times between 1990 and 1992, when Wood was between 6 and 8 years old and went to Davenport’s home, at that time on North Drive, to play, as he said many neighborhood children did.

He testified that Davenport let kids come into his house and play video games. On some of those occasions, Davenport put his hand on his knee and then gradually moved it up to his genitals.

Lead defense attorney John Zelbst cross-examined Wood about his history of mental illness, which includes numerous hospitalizations, medication for bipolar and psychotic disorders and instances of “losing touch with reality and being unable to cope.”

Wood also testified to suffering two brain injuries that affected his memory.

Also, later defense witnesses refuted his claims that neighborhood children played inside the Davenport house, testifying that they played basketball or volleyball outside and did not play video games.

They also said they had never seen Wood at the house. One witness who Wood said witnessed the fondling testified that was not true.

Zelbst also put the investigator, Dale Jones, on the stand. Jones denied threatening Wood and said Wood had initiated contact with the Attorney General’s Office by e-mail a week before Jones came to question him.

Davenport’s accuser in the Starkville case, who is not identified because he is a juvenile, was 14 when he said Davenport molested him. The teen and his mother, who said she came upon Davenport and her son unexpectedly and witnessed the act, both testified Tuesday.

Wednesday’s session began with Kitchens considering whether to admit the testimony of the boy’s older brother, one of Davenport’s Warren County accusers, along with that of Wood.

The brother, now 18, testified to two instances when he said Davenport fondled him, once on Halloween 1999 and again once during the summer of 2003. He did not tell his mother or father or anyone else about the abuse because he was afraid of Davenport and of what other people would think. “He said he would not touch (my brother),” the teen said. “He promised me.”

Before resting its case, the prosecution also called the father of the two boys to the stand to address defense claims that the boys’ mother had previously made sexual-abuse allegations against him.

The father said the incident was the result of an awkward accident and any questions about it were cleared up in a few weeks. “I never felt that she accused me,” he said. “She stated, and I took it at face value, that she just needed to clear it up. It wasn’t an accusation when I heard it and I never heard her speak of it again.”

Zelbst also put Phillip Esplin, who holds a doctorate in child psychology, on the stand.

 Esplin said several factors are present in the case that have correlated with false abuse allegations, and that “a high level of certainty isn’t related to the percentage of time there is also a high level of accuracy” when an abuse allegation is made.

Zelbst also called a series of witnesses who testified about their relationships with Davenport, either as youngsters, through work or other personal association, and attempted to offer testimony about his character.

Kitchens upheld repeated objections from the prosecution, blocking answers to many of Zelbst’s questions.

Court was to resume today at 8:30 a.m. with additional defense witnesses.

Prosecutors said late Wednesday they had not decided if they would pursue a rebuttal phase before the case moves into its final stages of attorney arguments and jury deliberation.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com.