On March 26, Javonte Ellis, a senior at New Hope High School, was arrested at his school’s campus by investigators with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department.
The 17-year-old was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl. He was charged with one count of statutory rape, a felony carrying a maximum possible penalty of five years behind bars. After the accusations, Ellis, an honor roll student and New Hope football player, was subsequently removed from the school.
Now, the charge has been dropped.
Prosecutors made the move Tuesday, saying Ellis was not 36 months older than the alleged victim and any consensual relations between the two are legal in the state of Mississippi. Under state law, statutory rape is committed when “any person 17 years of age or older has sexual intercourse with a child who is at least 14 but under 16 years of age, (who) is 36 months younger than the person and not the person’s spouse.”
Lowndes County prosecuting attorney Allison Kizer made the motion to dismiss the charges, which can be done in a felony case before evidence is presented to a grand jury. Kizer told The Dispatch this morning she was contacted by Ellis’ attorney via letter, which claimed if one examined the exact dates of birth of both the suspect and alleged victim, his client could not be charged.
Kizer double-checked with investigators and discovered the lawyer was correct. She said Ellis was two years, 11 months and some days older than the subject — not 36 months.
“It was a matter of days,” Kizer said. “I think what they did was look at the months.”
“I think they were looking at she’s 14, he’s 17,” Lowndes County justice court judge Ron Cooke said of the LCSD investigation. “Once they started looking at the days, not the years and the months, it didn’t add up to 36 months.”
The Dispatch does not identify victims of alleged sex crimes.
LCSD was tipped off to the statutory rape case via an unrelated investigation into a child exploitation case in which electronic communication evidence was reviewed.
Someone who answered the phone at Ellis’ residence along Florence Harris Road this morning told The Dispatch the family did not want to discuss the situation.
Statutory rape charges remain against two other New Hope High School students — Brenton Mikael Spann and Tyler Ridge Staples, both 18 — for their alleged involvement with a different female.
District Attorney Forrest Allgood has told The Dispatch those cases will be presented to a grand jury later this year.
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