Community Corner

New Trial Requested for Mark Kinney in Molestation Case; Prosecutor Resigns

Kinney is due to be sentenced Friday. A new prosecutor has been assigned to the case. Former prosecutor Tim Campen has submitted his resignation.

As Mark Lewis Kinney, one-time Ramona music instructor, awaits sentencing Friday for his conviction for child molestation and possession of child pornography, his defense attorney has filed a motion for a new trial.

David Cohn filed the motion, according to a new prosecutor assigned to the case, Chantal DeMauregne. She did not state the grounds for the motion. It will be heard at 10:30 am Friday in Department 12 of the El Cajon courthouse, Cohn told Ramona Patch.

Timothy Campen, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted Kinney, has submitted his resignation and is on vacation. His final day as a deputy district attorney in San Diego will be April 2, according to Steve Walker, communications director for the San Diego County District Attorney’s office.

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Kinney's sentencing also is due to be held in the El Cajon courthouse Friday morning. The defendant, a former Wynola resident, has been held in the Vista Detention Facility pending his sentencing, Cohn said. Kinney, 49, was found guilty on eight of 10 charges and was taken into custody after the verdicts were read Feb. 10.

The charges were related to three girls who testified during the trial.

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The jury found Kinney guilty of five counts of performing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, as well as one count of using a minor to perform an illegal act. They also found him guilty on one charge of creating obscene material and another charge of possessing child pornography. The counts regarding lewd acts were enhanced by allegations that multiple children had been victimized.

He was found not guilty of two other charges.


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