Lafayette attorney has initial hearing on attempted sexual battery charge

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Lafayette attorney Earl McCoy appeared in court Friday morning for his initial hearing on a charge of attempted sexual battery, a Level 6 felony.

McCoy's attorney, Brian Dekker, waived the reading of McCoy's charge, and special Judge Heather Barajas informed McCoy that if convicted, he faces a possible sentence of between six and 30 months in prison and a possible file up to $10,000.

Barajas entered a not guilty plea on McCoy's behalf, and set 1 p.m. July 14 as a status hearing in Tippecanoe Superior 5. Barajas did not set a trial date during Friday's hearing.

Neither McCoy nor Dekker had any comments after the hearing.

Barajas was appointed to the case by the Indiana Supreme Court in March after all of the Tippecanoe County judges recused themselves from the case.

A special prosecutors charged McCoy, 54, of Lafayette, on March 15 on allegations from a woman who worked in McCoy's law office.

The woman's allegations are that on May 6, McCoy and several of the office workers went to a downtown pub, where they had a few drinks, according to prosecutors. McCoy asked the woman to let him back into the law office, saying he left his keys there, according to prosecutors.

Once inside the office, McCoy invited the woman into a conference room, where he asked her questions about her sexual past, according to prosecutors. He tried to kiss the woman, who pulled away, and McCoy backed her into a corner, according to prosecutors. He then grabbed the woman’s hand and tried to force her to touch his crotch, according to prosecutors.

McCoy was a candidate for Tippecanoe Circuit Judge in 2014 and a candidate for prosecutors in 2018. McCoy lost both races in the GOP primaries.

Between late October and the middle of March when he was charged, McCoy regularly appeared on WLFI-TV18 as the station's legal analysist in the case of Richard Allen, who is charged with murder in the Feb. 13, 2017, killings of Delphi teenagers Abby Williams and Libby German.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette attorney has initial hearing on sexual battery charge