Jury convicts Helena man of sexually abusing 7-year-old girl

A Lewis and Clark County jury on Monday found a Helena man guilty of several felonies and a misdemeanor for sexually abusing a girl who was 7 years old at the time and for methamphetamine possession.

The jury convicted Darren James Alexander of one felony count of sexual intercourse without consent for the first night of abuse the girl endured; one count of sexual assault; one count of criminal endangerment; one count of criminal possession of dangerous drugs; and one count of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. Every count except for the paraphernalia charge is a felony.

The jury found him not guilty on two additional counts of sexual intercourse without consent — prosecutors had alleged he committed that crime on subsequent nights after the first incident — but did find him guilty on one lesser charge of sexual assault linked to the same allegations.

The trial started on the afternoon of Oct. 28, and jurors began deliberating just after noon on Oct. 31. In total, they deliberated for about six hours before reaching a unanimous verdict on the seven charges Alexander faced.

Alexander was originally charged in April 2024 with sexually assaulting two minors, though the counts related to the second were dropped ahead of the trial.

The Independent Record is not identifying the victim whom Alexander was convicted of abusing nor her relationship to him in order to protect the identity of minors and sexual assault victims. But she did testify during the trial, now age 9.

The abuse happened while the victim was with Alexander at his home. She later told a different adult, which led to the allegations being reported to Child Protective Services. The girl underwent a forensic interview in Great Falls and reported that Alexander had touched her inappropriately.

During trial, Alexander’s defense attorney showed there were inconsistencies between the girl’s forensic interviews and her trial testimony, and she used some of the girl’s statements to try to sew doubt into the sexual allegations, including that contact happened every night during the girl’s stay with the man.

But the jury found him guilty of the most serious alleged offense — sexual intercourse without consent — for at least the first night’s conduct, as well as the lesser sexual assault charge for another night and the drug use.

Judge Christopher Abbott, presiding over the trial, declined to allow Alexander to be released with supervision or a GPS tracking device pending his sentencing hearing, saying he posed too much of a flight risk. He also ordered that Alexander undergo a psychosexual evaluation and presentence investigation ahead of the sentencing date, scheduled for Jan. 8.

Sexual intercourse without consent, if it involved a victim under age 16 and the offender is at least 4 years older than the victim, carries a mandatory minimum sentence of at least four years in prison but up to life.

Abbott thanked the jurors at the end of the five-day trial: “This was a particularly challenging and hard case to serve on.”