Opening arguments began Monday in the retrial of a Madison man accused of sodomizing a 4-year-old girl in 2013 in Limestone County.

Meikahl Jerry Adams, 34, of 25517 Mahalo Circle, is charged with one count of first-degree sodomy, sexual abuse of a child under age 12 and carrying a pistol without a permit. The latter two charges were dismissed during the first trial.

Jury selection began Monday morning in Limestone County Circuit Court in Athens.

Adams was initially tried Feb. 11, 2015. The 12-member jury was evenly split on whether to convict or acquit him on the sodomy charge. When jurors indicated they were hopelessly deadlocked, Circuit Judge Robert Baker declared a mistrial.

The district attorney’s office decided then they would talk to jurors and retry the case. Defense attorney Harlan Mitchell said after the first trial that the case should never have been tried due to lack of evidence.

Accusation

Adams is accused of making oral contact with the then-4-year-old girl’s private area in 2013. At the time, Adams was the fiancé of the girl’s mother, and they and two other children were living in Ardmore.

The girl’s grandmother reported the alleged abuse, Jones said. There was no DNA evidence and no evidence of physical injury to the child, he said.

The key evidence in the case was a 2013 videotaped interview with the 4-year-old at the Child Advocacy Center. Athens-Limestone Child Advocacy Center Executive Director and forensic interviewer Susan McGrady conducted that interview.

During the first trial, the girl, then 6, testified but could remember neither the incident nor Adams, whom she referred to as “Mike” on the 2013 videotaped interview.

Mitchell accused McGrady of leading and directing the child to describe the sexual act and to indicate that “Mike” committed it.