Albany man convicted of sex abuse of 4-year-old

Attorneys argued Friday, Jan. 20 whether a boy’s emotional reaction to questioning on the witness stand showed his potential fear over being caught in a lie — or demonstrated trauma he experienced when a man forced himself on him.

Prosecutor Alex Olenick told the 12-person jury after three days of court proceedings the 13-year-old boy’s face reddened and eyes filled with tears because he is “haunted” by abuse from nearly a decade prior while in the care of Ryan Shew.

“When I ask him that question, he’s right back there,” Olenick said. “You can tell.”

The crimes

Shew watched the boy for a few months in early 2014, up to nine hours at a time about four days each week while the child’s mother worked retail.

The boy, now 13, told his mother in 2020 he was unable to sleep because he remembered the abuse that played out while cartoons reportedly played on a nearby TV.

“Sometimes I couldn’t sleep because it was the only thing I could think of,” the boy said in court.

Albany police investigators took a report and referred the boy to questioning by a specialist at ABC House, a nonprofit children’s advocacy center.

Shew, hair trimmed to near-stubble, gazing from behind thin-framed glasses and a goatee, appeared impassive throughout the trial, including during testimony.

The boy said he didn’t recognize Shew, seated nearby. He couldn’t remember whether anyone else was present at the house Shew shared with his mother or what time of day he was there.

He didn’t remember what pants he had on. He thought “South Park” was playing on TV.

The defense

But Shew, argued defense attorneys, has a genetic condition that could prevent him from sexually assaulting someone. Rex White and Tyler Reid declined to make an opening statement on the first day of the trial. On Thursday, Jan. 19, they revealed to the jury that Shew is diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome.

That’s the name for the body condition resulting from a third, extra X chromosome present in the genetic coding of some babies that are genetic males.

Defense seized on typical symptoms to disavow Shew’s involvement in the accusations of abuse.

Bodies with extra X chromosomes often exhibit longer legs, shorter torsos, wider hips and less muscle mass than two-chromosome counterparts. They also frequently, comparatively, have less or lighter body and facial hair.

A pair of physicians attested in front of the jury that Shew has hypogonadism — genitals that did not fully develop because of a low level of testosterone.

“A micropenis. That’s the medical terminology,” White told Judge Brendan Kane.

The hormone, attorneys argued, also affects sexual desire.

Two physicians concluded, however, that Klinefelter’s low testosterone and hypogonadism do not preclude sexual assault.

“Being underdeveloped would not prevent either of the acts you described,” said Kristian Balle, a dermatologist who was on the medical team that diagnosed Shew’s Klinefelter syndrome.

A mother’s testimony

Colleen Shew, Shew’s mother, said her son didn’t abuse the boy because she was always home. She left the house only to grocery shop, and that was always with her son, Shew told the prosecution.

Ryan Shew said about the same under questioning Friday.

He said he and the boy were only out of Colleen Shew’s line of sight for a “minute or two” — that his mother frequently watched TV with him or was nearby for diaper changes.

She never so much as took a shower when they had company in the house, Ryan Shew said.

“You don’t remember every single date?” Olenick said.

“Not from my entire life. No,” Ryan Shew said.

Then how, Olenick asked, could he be so confident about events unfolding nearly a decade before.

“I don’t know,” Ryan Shew said.

The jury deliberated for about four hours before finding Ryan Shew guilty of first-degree sodomy and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse.

Shew was acquitted on a second charge of first-degree sodomy.

Sodomy of a child under 12 years of age carries a mandatory penalty of 25 years in prison under Oregon’s minimum sentencing guidelines. Those guidelines require a minimum sentence of six years and three months for a first-degree sex abuse conviction.