via Jurors announce verdict in religious ritual assault trial h/t @VinIenco
Jurors announced a verdict Friday just hours after starting deliberations in the Nermin Spahic trial.
They found Spahic not guilty on all three charges.
Spahic was emotional at hearing the verdict and was in tears.
Defense attorney Angela Campbell said the quick jury verdict may have come from the lack of physical evidence in the case.
“It’s a he said, she said case,” said Campbell.
Campbell said she didn’t know what resonated with the jury, but thought officers who said they decided not to collect evidence from Spahic’s fingernails and the victim’s body may have played a role.
“They had the opportunity to pursue physical evidence and they didn’t.
That resonates with me, and I assume it would resonate with anyone
that’s listening to the evidence in this case,” said Campbell.
The case wasn’t without circumstantial
evidence. Assistant Polk County Attorney Steve Foritano focused on the
defendant’s history of performing the religious ceremony on clothed
people. That night with the 18-year-old woman and her mother, he performed the ceremony with them in the nude covered only by a towel.
The 18-year-old texted her friends
that she was scared and immediately following the ritual, texted about
places his hands should not have been.
Closing arguments were presented on Friday morning and the case was turned over to the jury about 11 a.m.
Spahic, 41, is on trial charged with
third-degree sexual assault and two counts of sexual exploitation by
clergy. A mother and her 18-year-old daughter both reported being
assaulted by Spahic during a counseling session at a Johnston home last
August.
Testimony started on Tuesday and Thursday Spahic took the witness stand in his own defense.
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