A five-woman, seven-man jury returned a guilty verdict yesterday evening in the incest case against James L. Bevel. The verdict came after less than half a day of jury deliberations. Throughout the weeklong proceedings Bevel maintained that he had not had sexual intercourse with his daughter at some point during the 1990s.
Loudoun Circuit Court Judge Burke F. McCahill handed the case over to the jury around 11:30 a.m. Thursday morning, following closing arguments from prosecutors and public defender Bonnie Hoffman.
Bevel is scheduled to appear in Circuit Court Monday, April 14, for sentencing scheduling.
Bevel was arrested in June 2007 on the charge that he had sexual intercourse with his daughter while the girl was between the ages of 13 and 15. The two were living in an apartment in Leesburg at the time. He later pleaded not guilty.
During the trial Bevel, who served as top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. and held organize the Million Man March, also faced accusations of sexual abuse that occurred beginning when his daughter, now 29, was a young girl.
Erika Jacobson
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