Finally in the Clear?

Arkansas Business, May 29, 2000

Ed Owens' ordeal may finally, truly be behind him.

Nearly three years after Owens was cleared of criminal charges that he raped his girlfriend's five-year-old daughter, a civil lawsuit over the matter is close to being settled, according to documents filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

Owens, a vice president at Firstar bank in North Little Rock, was arrested in March 1996 after being accused by the girl's father, Robert May, of sexually molesting her. The father's charges were initially corroborated by an investigator with the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

But Owens' attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig, claimed all along the charges were manufactured by May in an effort to obtain custody of the girl from her mother. In July 1997, Owens was cleared of wrongdoing by both the Pulaski County Prosecutor's officer and DHS.

However, in April 1998, May brought a civil suit against Owens reasserting his claims.

Owens filed a counterclaim against May and a third-party suit against the DHS investigator and a North Little rock police officer.

The counterclaim charged May and the others of malicious prosecution, deprivation of his constitutional rights, abuse of process and conspiracy to deprive him of his civil rights.

The case was actually dismissed on March 2 after a hearing in which both sides said they'd reach a settlement agreement.

But Rosenzweig filed a motion to set aside the agreement on March 23, saying the initial dismissal was the result of a clerical error.

The motion asked that the dismissal be put on hold until some preconditions to the agreement could be met.