Not Guilty/Complete Acquittal at Jury Trial – (2 counts) Felony Sex Abuse – State v. Mr. P (DMC No. 16993) FEB 1, 2022 – (Maricopa County Superior Court No. CR2020-148028).
Mr. P was an employee for the Department of Economic Services. He was shopping at a Wal-Mart while speaking on his phone as he walked. He walked down an aisle and walked past a 20-year-old female who was shopping. He next went down a second aisle, and as he was walking and talking on the phone, he bumped into a second 20-year-old female (who was friends with the first girl), and said “excuse me.” The first girl then ran up to the second girl and said “he was too close to me when he was in the other aisle, and I saw him press his penis into you.”
Wal-Mart Security was notified, and the Police were then called. When they spoke to Mr. P, he stated he had no idea what the girls were talking about. He stated he only casually brushed by one as he walked by. He begged the officers to pull the video surveillance at Wal-Mart so that they could see he was telling the truth. While he was doing this, one of the other girls began to say “this happened to me before, and the Police didn’t believe me.” They then began yelling at Mr. P.
When the Police viewed the video surveillance footage, one of the officers said “I can’t see anything” that would fit the description of what the girls described. Ultimately, Mr. P was arrested and charged with two counts of Class 5 Felony Sexual Abuse. He hired a different law firm to defend him, and after the case was set to trial, they just told him to take a plea to probation with no jail, because after he was done with probation the case would turn into a misdemeanor. Mr. P said, “but I’m innocent,” and the other law firm agreed that he was innocent, but just told him that the risk of losing at trial was too severe. He then came and hired DM Cantor several months prior to trial.
After reviewing all the evidence, we agreed that he was, in fact, innocent and should not take any plea. We proceeded to trial, and when the two alleged victims came in to testify, their stories were all over the place. They had prior criminal histories, they dressed inappropriately for court, and they were rude to all involved in the process. After the Jury deliberated less than an hour, they came back with a verdict of Not Guilty on all charges. Originally, Mr. P was facing a minimum of eight months in prison, up to a maximum of 4.5 years. He also would have lost his job had he not have been fully acquitted.