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Prosecutor will play videotape at hearing on assault of child

Chad Abraham

Prosecutor Gail Nichols said she will play a videotape during an upcoming preliminary hearing in the case of a California man charged with sexual assault on a child.Stephen Harrison, 49, of Ross, Calif., appeared in court Monday with his attorney for the brief hearing. The suspect waived his right to advisement, and his attorney and Nichols agreed that two hours would be enough time for the preliminary hearing.Nichols said she plans on showing a one-hour videotape at that hearing. She would not say what the tape will show.Harrison’s answers to Judge James Boyd’s questions regarding a restraining order were barely audible.Harrison was arrested Christmas night in San Francisco after the alleged victim’s mother told police she found him in bed with her 8-year-old daughter. Harrison, his family and the girl’s family were sharing a home they had rented for the holidays near Hunter Creek.The arrest warrant says the families went out to the Caribou Club, but that Harrison left early. The mother said she found him in bed with her daughter when she returned.Harrison told police he was drunk and didn’t remember anything about the night. The warrant says he put his hand over the victim’s mouth when she cried out.The warrant also says that the mother was repeatedly told not to call police. She told police her ex-husband “had already stripped the bed and she seemed convinced that any evidence would be gone,” the warrant says. The girl’s clothes also had been washed.Harrison is part of a socially prominent family in California, and the woman’s ex-husband said in the police report that he was “concerned about the social ramifications of this incident.”Boyd set the preliminary hearing for April 3.Chad Abraham’s e-mail address is chad@aspentimes.com