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Sex Assault Suspect Has Court Hearing

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By KEN RITTER, The Associated Press

Published: October 18, 2007

LAS VEGAS - The man accused in the videotaped sexual abuse of a 3-year-old girl was arraigned Wednesday, a day after his arrest during a routine traffic stop.
Chester Arthur Stiles, 37, did not enter pleas during the two-minute hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court.
Stiles faces 23 felony charges, including sexual assault of a minor and use of a minor in producing pornography, that could get him multiple sentences of life in prison if he is convicted.
Stiles replied, 'No ma'am,' when asked if he could afford a lawyer.

The judge appointed a public defender, Jeff Banks, to represent him.

'Of course he's going to plead not guilty,' Banks said outside court.

Security at the courthouse was unusually tight.

A court clerk, Chuck Short, said Stiles had received death threats, and said additional security had been appointed for Stiles and his lawyer.

No bail was set, but Banks said he might seek bail later.

In a video that led to a police manhunt for him, Stiles is shown committing a variety of sexual acts on a young girl while addressing her by name and repositioning the camera himself, according to a police report.

The girl's mother chose not to watch the video, but told police she recognized striped sheets, her daughter's leopard-print dress and the knobless wooden armoire in an apartment they moved from before the girl's third birthday in September 2003.

On Tuesday, the mother's lawyer, Jerry Donohue, said the girl, now 7, 'clearly has no memory of any molestation, which is good, but she knows something's going on around her.'
Stiles was about to be named one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives before he was apprehended, said Special Agent David Staretz, spokesman for the FBI office in Las Vegas.
Stiles was being held in isolation at the Clark County Jail in Las Vegas.

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