Curry faces Sept. trial in alleged rape of daughters

A Minneapolis man jailed on charges of rape, assault and stalking made another court appearance Monday for a hearing on various pre-trial issues.

Jerry Lee Curry, 52, is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 24 in what officials say was a horrendous abuse and neglect case. His 21-year-old twin daughters have outlined years of rape, beatings and torture.

Curry was jailed in February on charges he raped, beat and chained the twins. DNA tests established that Curry had most likely fathered a child by one of his daughters.

An 11-year-old in the same home as the twins has said she was hit with a golf club but not chained or sexually assaulted.

In an evidentiary hearing Monday in Hennepin County District Court, Judge Fred Karasov ruled prosecutors cannot bring up Curry's alleged abuse of two first cousins decades ago. Prosecutors had wanted to show how Curry treats family, but the judge said they already have enough examples of that.

One of Curry's public defenders, William Selman, questioned the expertise and credentials of some experts the prosecution plans to call. But the judge left it to prosecutors to prove the credibility of those experts if they are called at trial.

Shelia Machelle Wilson, 48, the other parent of the twin daughters, is also in jail, held on three counts of criminal neglect.