A child sexual abuse survivor faced her perpetrator, a former Choctaw-Nicoma Park choir teacher, in court on Tuesday afternoon.
In 19-year-old Avery Smith’s victim impact statement , she called her abuser, 30-year-old Samuel Melton, calculated, cunning and infuriatingly smart.
“It was important to me, for my own closure and for my own sake, but it was also really important to me to open this up to other victims of Oklahoma, or victims in the past from this certain perpetrator,” Smith shared.
She said Melton took her love of music from her — and her dream of becoming a music teacher.
Shortly before she delivered the victim impact statement, Melton pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts, including first-degree rape by instrumentation.
“I’m feeling a lot of relief. I think that this