PANAMA CITY — A judge has set a trial date for a twice-released sex offender for a sexual battery case authorities said stems back 20 years, according to court documents.
Horace Monroe Wood, 45, appeared in court Wednesday to set what his attorney called a “firm” court date for a sexual battery charge stemming from an alleged incident with a juvenile in 1995. Months earlier, prosecutors dropped three cases of alleged sexual acts of children under 12 against Wood. He pleaded no contest to the fourth case and was released on probation as a sex offender until authorities again arrested him in January for the alleged 1995 sexual battery.
Wood pushed back his June trial date during Wednesday’s hearing to July 27. Defense attorney Matthew Meredith said some witnesses that could testify on Wood’s behalf had yet to be located. However, they would be going before a jury regardless of whether the witnesses could be reached by the July court date, he said.
Wood previously had been released the day he was supposed to go to trial at the end of October, although he was accused of sexual battery by four underage victims. He pleaded no contest to one count of lewd and lascivious molestation while the other three charges were dropped.
Following Wood’s release, Sheriff Frank McKeithen criticized the handling of the case, stating Wood had “not been held accountable.” Wood later complained that authorities, under McKeithen’s direction, excessively monitored his activities during his release.
According to the prosecution’s notes on the case, the incidents took place as far back as 2006 on girls as young as 3 years old. The time lapse since the incident and the ages of the alleged victims both conspired to result in deficient memories among the girls. Several of their accounts conflicted with one another when pressed on details, which would be used at trial, according to the prosecutor Matt Pavese.
Attorneys reached a deal, and Wood was released with three years probation. Prosecutors also received a lifelong designation on Wood as a sex offender.
Eight days later, probation officers caught Wood without his court-required electronic monitoring device and apprehended him outside a Youngstown motel. Fensom ruled the nearly two hours Wood spent without the monitoring device was not a “substantial violation” of his probation and he was again released on probation.
A few hours later, however, Wood was rearrested and charged with a sexual battery after authorities filed a complaint from an alleged incident in 1995.
Wood appeared in court Wednesday to set a jury trial on July 27 against the sexual battery charge.