Closing arguments given in Rodhouse trial, jury in deliberations

PITTSFIELD — “Never try to play a game I created as a kid and expect me to lose as an adult.”

Pike County Assistant State’s Attorney Leecia Carnes repeatedly returned to a single text message sent by Austin Rodhouse throughout her closing argument given Friday morning on the ninth and presumably final day of his trial.

“Those words have haunted me since the first time I read them,” Carnes said after mentioning the text for the first time. “This line is Austin in his truest, most honest form.”

In her closing argument, Carnes explained the meaning of each of the 19 domestic violence and sex-related felonies Rodhouse has been charged with.

• 3 counts of aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony with a sentencing range of between three and seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. 
• 1 count of criminal sexual assault involving force, a Class 1 felony with a sentencing range of between four and 15 years in prison.
• 4 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony with a sentencing range of six to 60 years in prison.
• 3 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony with a sentencing range of six to 30 years in prison.
• 2 counts of child pornography, a Class X felony with a sentencing range of six to 30 years in prison.
• 3 counts of indecent solicitation of an adult, a Class 2 felony with a sentencing range of three to seven years in prison.
• 3 counts of aggravated battery to a child, a Class 3 felony with a sentencing range of two to five years in prison.

Once each charge was explained, Carnes reviewed the evidence that had been presented to the eight-woman, four-man jury. Over the course of roughly an hour, Carnes summarized the multiple instances of alleged physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse carried out by Rodhouse on his wife, referred to in court documents as CC, and his two young children — some in more explicit detail than others.

“He wanted her to suffer,” Carnes said. “He wanted her in agony.”

She referenced Rodhouse’s demeanor in the courtroom throughout the trial, specifically during the moments when “those horrible pictures and photos” involving his sons were presented to the jury.

“He had the audacity to sit there and pretend to cry,” Carnes said. “… The man sitting over there is responsible for these acts, even if he used CC as the means to accomplish them.”

Rodhouse shook his head.

Rodhouse, a Pleasant Hill native who turns 31 next week, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. CC’s credibility as a witness was questioned throughout defense attorney Casey Schnack’s roughly 40-minute closing argument.

“If CC is capable of doing anything, she’s capable of lying to save herself and no one else,” Schnack said.

She continued to emphasize that CC was a willing participant in the alleged abuse.

“Austin isn’t this master manipulator that people want you to think that he is,” she said. “These are adults making their own decisions… They’re consenting adults, and what they do behind closed doors is not for any of us to say is right or wrong or moral or immoral.”

Schnack also referenced a video in which CC was “cutting herself on the bathroom floor.” A set of male arms entered the frame in the video, which CC claimed in her testimony were Rodhouse’s. Schnack, however, said the video evidence was inconsistent with CC’s testimony because of the tattoos — or lack thereof — that were visible on the arms.

“I wore a short jacket today just for this specific purpose,” Schnack said while rolling up her sleeves to reveal her own tattoos. “I took a lot of heat for having my tattoos shown in court a little over a year ago, but I like them… They identify you… The hands in that video did not have the same tattoo that Austin has on his arm.”

Schnack said the prosecution had “made a deal with the devil”  by granting CC partial immunity, and that her testimony was unreliable as a witness who had been “bought and paid for” — not in cash but in freedom.

“All she had to do was deliver Austin,” Schnack said.

Carnes said CC had no promises of immunity or anything when she first began speaking with investigators, and that claiming otherwise was a “mischaracterization.”

“That letter I sent her attorney didn’t say ‘as long as she delivers her husband,’” Carnes said in her rebuttal.

“It said as long as she tells the truth.”

Judge Charles H.W. Burch dismissed the jury to deliberate following Carnes’ and Schnack’s closing arguments early Friday afternoon.

MRN Pool Photos by Shane Hulsey.