(Editor’s note: This article contains very disturbing testimony that readers will find distasteful and likely horrific. However, The Era-Leader is publishing it because the public needs to know what the jury heard in convicting Shannon Polkey of crimes against children that will possibly result in him spending the remainder of his life in prison.)
Last Thursday a Washington Parish jury returned guilty verdicts against Shannon Polkey, 56, of Franklinton after deliberating for just over an hour.
Polkey was convicted of two counts of first-degree rape of children under the age of thirteen, one count of sexual battery of a child under the age of thirteen, and one count of failure to register as a sex offender.
Assistant District Attorney Zachary Popovich with the Special Victims Unit and Assistant District Attorney Casey Allen presented the case to the jury with Judge William H. Burris presiding over the 4-day trial.
Captain Corbet Hunt with the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office was the lead detective on the case, with Special Victim’s Unit Investigator Anna Thomas with the District Attorney’s Office contributing invaluable assistance leading up to and during the trial.
According to trial testimony, the victims, a young brother and sister, voluntarily left their mother’s custody in Pike County, Mississippi when their mother lost her home in the summer of 2019. The children were taken in by Polkey his wife, and his daughter in Franklinton. The victims remained in the care of the Polkey family from the summer of 2019 through April 2022.
While at the Polkey home, the children were physically and verbally abused. They testified to being struck with paddles, being forced to kneel on slotted air conditioner registers on the floor, and being forced to stand for extended periods of time with their foreheads pressed against a wall.
On the witness stand, the male victim, who was between the ages of 8 and 10 while living with the Polkeys, graphically described sexual abuse he suffered. He described Polkey committing a sexual battery by touching him inappropriately. He also described being repeatedly forced to his knees to perform a sexual act on the Polkey whenever the other adults in the house were away. He further described very specific threats Polkey would make to him in order to compel his silence.
The male victim and his younger sister, who was between the ages of 7 and 9 while living in the defendant’s home, both disclosed how Polkey would sexually abuse them together. They testified that he would force the female victim to perform a sexual act on her brother while he watched. The victims described feelings of helplessness and overwhelming fear over the things Polkey repeatedly forced them to do.
During the trial the jury heard from the guidance counselor at the Washington Parish school that the victims attended during the time period of the abuse. The counselor described a meeting she had with the male victim in April of 2022, when he, for the first time, courageously disclosed the fact that he was being sexually abused. Immediately following the outcry, the counselor contacted the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, which began an investigation and referred the case to law enforcement.
The jury heard testimony from lead Detective Corbet Hunt, as well as a forensic interviewer with the Children’s Advocacy Center’s Hope House. With the forensic interviewer on the witness stand, the jury was able to see each victim’s recorded forensic interview, which depicted the first time either of victims had discussed Polkey’s crimes in detail.
Testifying as an expert witness, a forensic nurse practitioner with the Morgan Rae Center for Hope (formerly Audrey Hepburn CARE Center) at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans explained to the jury how children who have suffered long-term sexual abuse often process and disclose trauma as well as the effects this type of trauma has on children.
Additionally, the jury learned that Shannon Polkey was convicted of forcible rape of a juvenile in 1987 in Washington Parish. He received a sentence of 15 years in prison. That conviction also carried a requirement that he registered as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.
Not only did the jury learn of the prior conviction, but they also heard about the abuse and long-term effects of the trauma first-hand. Now an adult, the victim of Polkey’s prior conviction bravely testified to the horrific sexual abuse and rapes she suffered at his hands nearly 40 years ago.
Finally, the jury saw evidence that the defendant had lived for years in Franklinton but had only registered as a sex offender in Mississippi, intentionally concealing his residence in Franklinton from law enforcement. Ultimately, Detective Hunt went to the address listed on the defendant’s Mississippi Sex Offender Registration paperwork in Tylertown, Mississippi. At the location, Detective Hunt found an uninhabitable, run-down trailer that lacked electricity and running water. The jury heard overwhelming evidence that while registered in Mississippi, the defendant was actually living in Franklinton and failed to notify the community of his presence.
After the jury’s guilty verdicts, Judge Burris remanded Polkey to jail pending sentencing, which is set for July 21. First degree rape carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Sexual battery of a child under age thirteen carries a sentence of 25 to 99 years in prison. Failure to register as a sex offender carries a sentence of two to ten years in prison.
