Actor pleads not guilty to charge of child rape

Wednesday, June 4, 2003

Actor pleads not guilty to charge of child rape
Scott Bairstow had sex with girl, 12, prosecutors allege

By JENNIFER LANGSTON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

EVERETT -- Hollywood actor and former Mukilteo resident Scott Hamilton Bairstow pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges that he had sex with a 12-year-old girl and later asked her to keep quiet about it.

Prosecutors have accused the actor, known for his roles in "Tuck Everlasting" and "Party of Five," of second-degree child rape. They claim he had sex several times from 1998 to 2001 with an underage girl who is related to his wife.


	Jim Bryant / P-I
Actor Scott Hamilton Bairstow, with his attorney, Mitchell Egers, was arraigned on charges of child rape.

They also allege Bairstow began calling the now-teenage girl again this year to have phone sex, asking her to tell him she was a little girl, according to court documents.

Bairstow -- dressed to a slouchy T-shirt in beige corduroys, a plain shirt, beaded necklace and a two-week beard -- appeared briefly in Snohomish County Superior Court yesterday to answer those charges. He pleaded not guilty and was released by the judge, who allowed him to leave the state for work and set an Aug. 15 trial date.

The 33-year-old actor has appeared in nine feature films, including "White Fang 2." His TV roles included appearances in "Touched by an Angel," "Wolf Lake" and "Lonesome Dove: The Series."

His attorney said after the hearing that statements Bairstow made during a recent phone conversation with the girl are being twisted out of context by the prosecution.

The following conversation was recorded by police last month after the girl told her family about the alleged sexual abuse, according to charging documents filed by prosecutors:

Bairstow: OK. Um, I mean, ho, how are you feeling, are ya, are, are you mad?

Girl: Um. I don't know. I think it's affected me in a lot of ways, but ...

Bairstow: It has?

Girl: Yeah. I don't know. I don't really know what to feel, ya know?

Bairstow: Have you told anyone?

Girl: No, but I'm thinking maybe I should.

Bairstow: K, um, why are you thinking that?

Girl: I don't know. I just, I don't know. You don't think I should tell anyone?

Bairstow: Well ... I'm like a dad, and I've got a job, and if you were to tell anyone, I would be thrown in jail for 10 years.

Girl: Are you serious?

Bairstow: Yeah, yeah, I'm not kidding around ... it would destroy my life.

Mitchell Egers, a Los Angeles attorney representing Bairstow, said further evidence will show that his client is innocent. He also said that conversation will take on an entirely different meaning.

"It was taken out of context and doesn't have the meaning one would draw from the few sentences that are there," Egers said.

More headlines and info from Everett, Mukilteo.