PRESCOTT – Eric Rockney, who in May entered an Alford plea to two counts of child molestation and was sentenced to 10 years’ probation, was back in court Tuesday, Aug. 25 to deal with a snag in the sentence.
Rockney, 37, was originally accused of two counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of child molestation.
A three-year-old girl told her mother in December, 2012 that Rockney had been touching her, and the mother then questioned her five-year-old, who said the same and that she had seen Rockney abusing a two-year-old boy as well, a police probable cause statement said.
When sheriff’s detectives interviewed Rockney, he “denied touching the girls in a sexual manner,” the statement said, and suggested that the girls’ mother might be making up the allegations.
An Alford plea means that the defendant does not admit guilt, but says he believes that the prosecution has enough evidence to convince a jury he is guilty.
Superior Court Judge Jennifer Campbell sentenced him to 10 years’ probation with sex offender terms, which, among other criteria, means Rockney is required to undergo polygraph testing as part of his treatment.
Rockney has been unwilling to do that.
His attorney, Daniel DeRienzo, said, “I see a big problem” with Rockney’s having to take a lie-detector test.
“Where people are taking an Alford plea, they’re saying, ‘I didn’t do it,” DeRienzo said, but what if “he says ‘I didn’t do it’ and he passes (the polygraph test)? How are you going to treat him if he didn’t do it?
“It’s a fundamental Catch-22,” he said.
Campbell was clearly frustrated. “This is why I loathe an Alford plea,” she said, “but your client was facing a substantial amount of time, and you talked me into it.”
She also pointed out that, “I wouldn’t have accepted the plea as an Alford if I didn’t believe your client has culpability.”
DeRienzo suggested that Rockney not be questioned on any topics specifically related to the case for which he received probation.
Campbell approved. “We are going to have Mr. Rockney participate in sexual history polygraphs and maintenance polygraphs moving forward,” she said.