Jury selection starts in child solicitation case

CLOVIS — A Clovis man arrested two years ago for soliciting a child faces the third-degree felony charge today in Curry County, starting with jury selection in a trial scheduled through the end of the week.

Benjamin Lerman, 43, was charged in May 2016 with using an “electronic communication device” to solicit a child between the ages of 13 and 16 for sex, and consequently arranging a meeting with that child, according to court records.

Jake Boazman will prosecute for the state and defense attorney Gary Mitchell represents Lerman in the trial presided over by Judge Fred Van Soelen.

Another trial scheduled to start today with jury selection was canceled late Tuesday for an “issue requiring further review,” according to court records. Tanner Autrey, 24, of Clovis will face the felony charges of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree criminal sexual penetration on a new batch of dates yet to be scheduled. He is accused of forcibly raping a woman at a Clovis residence on Dec. 22, 2016, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Also of note in Curry County courts today:

• Colton McCoy, 20, of Amarillo, is scheduled for a 10 a.m. plea conference with Judge Matthew Chandler. According to an agreement he signed in May, McCoy will plead guilty to commercial burglary and breaking and entering (fourth-degree felonies) and serve two consecutive 18-month periods of supervised probation; additional counts of burglary, breaking and entering, larceny and criminal damage to property will be dismissed.

Additionally, McCoy “shall write letters of apology to any and all of the businesses involved in these cases,” records show.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, McCoy was charged in October 2016 with his involvement in consecutive break-ins during the dead of the night that month at multiple smoke shops in Clovis, with several hookah pipes broken or taken in the process.

• Wade Alley, 33, of Clovis, is scheduled for a 2 p.m. plea conference with Chandler. According to the agreement he signed Aug. 16, Alley will plead no contest to a third-degree felony larceny charge from April 2017 and be sentenced to three years in custody, of which all but six months are to be suspended for supervised probation.

Alley was arrested after a Clovis police officer traced shoeprints from a burglarized Clovis residence down an alleyway and into his front yard, according to a criminal complaint. Upon searching his residence officers found several items allegedly stolen from the other house, including a 32-inch TV, a pink revolver, an XBOX, a shotgun, a green plastic ammo box, two stone lava lamps, costume jewelry and “various leather belts.” In an interview with police, Alley “began rambling about opening his door and people stashing stuff,” records show.

During the hearing today, lawyers will discuss deferring the sentence and make arguments as to where he should serve that sentence.