GREENE: Scholfield receives guilty verdict in sex abuse trial

By Editor | June 29, 2022 |

By Carmen Ensinger

After three full days of testimony, it took a Greene County jury less than four hours to return a guilty verdict last Friday in the trial of 23-year-old Tanner Schofield.
Schofield, of Carrollton, was accused of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child, a Class X Felony, for the offense of sticking his hand down the pants of his 10-year-old niece and touching her anus for the purpose of sexual gratification.
Because of her age, the child will be referred to as A.W. She is the daughter of Kari Alderfer and Nate Alderfer of Greenfield and Kyle White of Jacksonville. Because of a conflict of interest, the case was handed over to a special prosecutor – Lorinda Lamken with the Sangamon County Prosecutor’s Office. Presiding over the case was Jersey County Judge Allison Lorton.
Lamken, in her opening statement, set the scene as to how the incident occurred for the jury.
On Aug. 13, 2020, A.W. was at her grandparent’s house, the home of Mark and Brenda Schofield, because it was Tanner Schofield’s birthday, who was turning 22 on this day, the family had planned to go out to dinner for his birthday and both A.W. and her half-sister, Lainey, were at their grandparents house to attend the celebration.
After spending a while watching television, Brenda Schofield took Lainey into the bathroom to wash her hair. Tanner was in his bedroom playing video games. A.W. decided to make herself a hashbrown in the air fryer in the kitchen.
There was a stool in front of the cabinet where the air fryer was and A.W. was sitting on the stool in front of the air fryer waiting for the hashbrown to get done cooking. Tanner Schofield came up behind A.W. and told her to stand up.
A.W. thought he was going to help her with the hash brown so she did as she was told. Instead, Schofield put his hand down the back of her pants, which were jeggings, through both the jeggings and underwear, and stuck his finger between her butt cheeks. This lasted for about a minute.
What made the action stop was that her sister yelled for her from the bathroom. Schofield then stopped, turned around and walked back to the living room area.
A.W. told her grandmother what happened and her grandmother took no action. She then told her mother when she returned to the Alderfer home a couple days later. The Alderfer’s immediately called the Greene County Sheriff’s Department and reported the incident.
Tanner Schofield was represented by Matt Radefeld and Joe Flees with the law firm of Frank, Juengel and Radefeld of Clayton, Mo.
In their opening statement, the defense argued that the sole issue of the trial is whether or not the prosecution could reasonably prove that Schofield used his finger, or part of it, for the purpose of sexual gratification or arousal.
The defense went on to say that A.W. had spent a good amount of time with her uncle and he had never done or said anything to her that was inappropriate. So, why, then, with a house full of people would he “put his big old hand down her pants and keep it there for a minute, but doesn’t squeeze or rub.”
The defense then alluded to the fact that Schofield was “kind of simple” and “not what you would call quick witted.”
After the incident was reported to the Greene County Sheriff’s Department, Deputy Austin Morrow asked Schofield to come into the Sheriff’s Office for an interview, which Schofield complied with.
Morrow, as a precaution, read Schofield his Miranda rights before beginning what would turn out to be a three-hour interview, all of which was played in open court.
The first hour of the interview was more or less banter between Morrow and Schofield which Morrow later explained on the stand was an interview technique to put the subject “at ease.”
At first, Schofield denies the incident ever happened at all, but later in the interview, he changes his story claiming it was all an “accident.”
His story was that he was there to help her with the hash brown and had moved to get a spatula over by the sink. He decided to poke her in the ribs as a “fun” gesture. She jerked back and he remembered that the handle on the cabinet was broken and sharp so he put his hand back to prevent her from getting hurt. In doing so, his hand slipped down into her pants.
According to the defense, it then got really awkward and Schofield froze right where he was. He snapped out of it and took his hand out, but he didn’t have it down her shorts for a minute – that didn’t make any sense.
Also, according to the defense, A.W. didn’t ask to call her mom about the incident. She went to the birthday celebration. Two days later she was at her dad’s house and didn’t say anything to him. She waited until she got home to tell her mom.
The prosecution entered several photos into evidence of the kitchen area including the “sharp” edge of the handle on the cabinet. The photos actually reveal what appears to be a rather smooth, broken off edge of what used to be a ball-shaped end that has been broken off.
The defense claimed it was an innocent act being made into something it wasn’t and that Schofield never wavered in the three-hour interview that it was an accident.
A.W. was the first witness to take the stand for the prosecution. She testified to the above events as well as to the fact that earlier in the day, when they were watching television, that Schofield had pinched her butt, but that she didn’t think anything of it at the time – that she thought he was just playing.
A.W.’s mother, Kari Alderfer took the stand and testified that within five to 10 minutes of getting home, A.W. started talking to her about the incident.
“I wasn’t aware of anything before this,” Alderfer said. “She said, Mom, I need to talk to you. Tanner touched my butt. I stopped what I was doing and I realized it was more serious than just me asking questions and she started describing what happened.”
Alderfer asked her if he just did it in passing and A.W. said no, he put his hand inside her underwear.
“She then showed me like a cupping motion with her hand,” Alderfer said. “She said he had his finger down between my butt and touched my butthole.”
Her stepfather, Greenfield Deputy Police Chief Nate Alderfer was in the bathroom getting ready for his shift and heard the two talking.
“I asked him if he thought I was overreacting which he didn’t because he called Greene County and asked for a deputy to be sent out,” Alderfer said. “She (A.W.) then wanted me to call her stepmom so she wouldn’t send Lainey out there again until it was investigated.”
The defense’s first witness was Schofield’s mother, Brenda Schofield. She testified that it was around an hour and a half later that A.W. told her about the incident and she gave her no details other than to say that he put his hand down the back of her pants. She said her demeanor was casual and she didn’t seem upset and was happy and smiling when they went out to dinner for Tanner’s birthday.
Upon cross examination, Brenda Schofield admitted she didn’t ask A.W. for any further details, but said she would go ask Tanner.
“I asked him later and he said he didn’t do that,” Brenda Schofield testified. “I called her father and told him what she told me.”
The defense then put Tanner Schofield on the stand in his own defense.
The defense’s first question to him was why he didn’t say anything about the incident right off.
“I didn’t want to think about it or talk about it,” Schofield said. “I didn’t want to be associated with it. I wanted to deny it ever happened.”
He was then asked why he told Officer Morrow in the interview that the incident never happened.
“I felt pressured,” Schofield said. “I had been there three hours. I was just saying what I thought he wanted me to say.”
Schofield then told his version of the story, including how he playfully poked A.W. in the ribs causing her to back up and how his hand accidentally slipped down into her pants as he was trying to prevent her from getting injured by backing into the sharp handle of the cabinet.
Some jurors could be seen snickering during the testimony by Schofield.
Schofield was asked if he had an erection or achieved any sexual gratification from the incident and he replied no to both.
Upon cross-examination, it was basically proven Schofield had lied.
“You wouldn’t lie to get yourself out of trouble, would you?” Lamken asked. “After all, you lied to your mom, you lied to your dad. You told the detective you were going to lie to your brother, Kyle and say it didn’t happen, but yet you want the jury to believe you now, is that correct?”
Both sides gave their closing arguments on Friday morning and the jurors, consisting of seven men and five women, retired to the jury room at approximately 10:10 a.m. They returned at approximately 1:47 p.m. and delivered the guilty verdict.
Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child is a Class X Felony and carries a minimum sentence of six years in the Department of Corrections and a maximum of 60 years.
A sentencing date of Aug. 18 at 2 p.m. was set for Schofield and Lamken asked that Schofield’s bond be revoked, but Judge Lorton refused this request and Schofield will remain out on bond until his sentencing on Aug. 18.