HILO, Hawai'i — A convicted murderer accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in a church in Pepe'ekeo last year should be acquitted because he did not receive a "full and fair" police investigation, a Big Island jury was told yesterday.

The jury began deliberations yesterday in the trial of Peter Kalani Bailey, 50, who is charged with four counts of first-degree sexual assault in the case. If convicted, Bailey could face an extended term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Deputy Public Defender Melody Parker said the girl and family members gave conflicting accounts of what happened after Bailey and the girl were discovered in the copy room of the Hamakua Coast Assembly of God church where the alleged sex acts occurred.

Family members testified they found the girl naked on the floor with Bailey on July 22, 2007, but Parker said the prosecution failed to prove a sexual assault occurred. The family members who discovered the two were emotional, and "that emotion turned an inappropriate event into charges of sexual assault" against Bailey, Parker said.

As for the girl's testimony about the sex acts, Parker recalled testimony by police that when officers arrived at the church, there was a crowd of angry people there, and Bailey had been assaulted.

"We know that children can be influenced, and we know that (the girl) was exposed to a number of adults who were very, very upset," Parker said.

Parker also said police "arrogantly" failed to test evidence collected from the girl after the alleged assault. A detective in the case testified the tests were not necessary because police had two witnesses to corroborate the girl's account of the alleged assault.

"Right now, you probably don't like Mr. Bailey very much, but that doesn't matter because you cannot convict based on speculation," she told the jury.

Deputy Prosecutor Michael Kagami called Parker's arguments "a smoke screen, a conspiracy theory."

The girl testified that Bailey invited her to the church, where Bailey was a church leader. Once there, the two sang some songs, then Bailey undressed her, undressed himself and rubbed olive oil on her body before engaging in various sex acts, Kagami told the jury.

The girl's brother found the two in the church copy room and ran for help, summoning the girl's uncle who lived nearby. The uncle testified he found the two naked on the floor of the copy room, with Bailey performing a sex act on the girl when he arrived.

"Church leader sexually assaults church member," Kagami told the jury. "This is what this case is all about."

Kagami said it was not unreasonable that the girl might get the order of some events mixed up because "she was a 12-year-old in the dark being raped," and said the lack of testing of evidence by police is not a legal defense in the case.

Bailey was paroled in 2003 after he was convicted of robbing and murdering 17-year-old Carol Olandy of Makakilo in 1979. Bailey and Francis Talo were convicted of kidnapping Olandy from a parking lot at the Pearl City Shopping Center because the pair wanted the Camaro sedan Olandy was driving "to do a job," according to testimony in the 1979 trial.

The men took Olandy to a Kunia pineapple field and shot her. They then drove to Fort Ruger Market and robbed the store. They were arrested a few minutes after the robbery still driving Olandy's car.

Bailey was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for robbery and murder, and the Hawai'i Paroling Authority initially set his minimum sentence at 35 years. That minimum term was later reduced, allowing for Bailey's parole after serving less than 24 years.

Bailey lived on the Big Island after his release, and told police he was active in the Pepe'ekeo church teaching music and choir. Neighbors said he also worked on projects on the church grounds, and had the keys to the building.

The jury in the sexual assault case is scheduled to continue deliberations today.