Harvey man convicted of raping girl over 2-year period, faces life in prison
A Harvey man faces spending the rest of his life in prison for his conviction Tuesday (March 1) of raping a child during a two-year period beginning when she was 11 years old.
Clifton Raye, 48, gave no reaction when learning of the verdict: Guilty as charged of two counts of aggravated rape, two counts of sexual battery and one count of oral sexual battery.
"The court finds the testimony of the victim in this matter to be extremely credible," 24th Judicial District Court Judge Lee Faulkner said in announcing the verdict just before 5 p.m.
Judge Faulkner, who presided over the daylong trial without a jury, described Raye's testimony as "incredible." The judge said he will hand down the mandatory life sentence on March 10.
Raye was accused of performing sexual acts on the child, and having her do the same to him, before the allegations were disclosed in 2013 when she was 13 years old. The victim, now age 16, is not being identified.
The state Department of Child and Family Services received an anonymous report of the abuse, investigated it and contacted the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, prosecutors said. Doctors at Children's Hospital in New Orleans found no physical evidence of sexual abuse, leaving only testimony.
Raye denied it and said the victim had been "coerced" into wrongly accusing him of rape.
Assistant District Attorneys David Wheeler and Rachel Africk prosecuted the case.
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