MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - The trial is underway for a Cordova teenager charged with beating and raping a two-year-old girl.
James Prindle was 15 when the attack happened, but has been charged as an adult.
Prindle sat quietly in Judge Bobby Carter's courtroom as prosecutors gave their opening statements in his rape and child abuse trial. Now 17-years-old, Prindle is accused of beating and raping a 2-year-old relative at their Cordova Creek apartment on August 16, 2010.
He and two other teens told Memphis police an intruder raped the child.
Prindle's attorney Claiborne Ferguson says the teen is innocent because "nothing links James to this sexual assault. No DNA no semen no blood stains," he said. "James got high and he lied."
The teen became teary-eyed when his mother, Monica Sanders, took the stand. He cried as he listened to Sanders describe the condition the little girl was in when she saw her in the back of the ambulance that night.
"The side of her face was purple; her ear was swollen red, purple, blue."
When a picture of the child victim was shown on the projector inside the courtroom, Prindle didn't look up. He just held his head in his hands.
