Hartford teenager denied youthful offender status in rape case

A Geneva County judge recently said the charges filed against a Wiregrass teenager could not be minimized as a childlike prank.

Circuit Court Judge P.B. McLauchlin denied a request by Julian Ammons and his defense council for him to be tried as a youthful offender on the felony first-degree rape charge filed against him. Ammons is represented by attorneys David Holmes and Michael Lasseter.

According to the court record, McLauchlin said Ammons faces a charge that he raped a 12 or 13-year-old child, and recorded the offense on a cell phone camera, which was replayed at school and in the locker room.

Ammons, 18, of Hartford, and a second teenager, Quintan Darden, were both charged with felony first-degree rape in November 2008 by Geneva County Sheriff’s investigators. Ammons and Darden were both high school students in Geneva County at the time of the alleged offense, but were charged as adults.

Geneva County Sheriff Greg Ward has said the sexual assault happened in the back of a vehicle at a recreation park near some ball fields in Hartford on May 1, 2007.

If convicted of the Class A felony, first-degree rape, each teenager could face 10 to 99 years in prison.

Ammons also has another class A felony pending. Court records show Dothan police also arrested Ammons last month and charged him with felony first-degree burglary. Ammons was one of five people charged in the burglary of a Dothan home.