A jury of 9 today decided the fate of a man accused of incest. On April 8 of 2004 a nine year old girl reported to police that she had been sexually molested by her father.
Today in the Supreme Court, the man - whose name we cannot release to protect the child - appeared before Justice Michelle Arana to hear his fate. At 12:30 the jury went in to make their decision and 2 hours 13 minutes later they came out. Unable to reach a unanimous verdict the jury was declared hung and the accused walked out of Supreme Court a free man. There was some issue because the examining doctor never certified if the child had been carnally known. Before leaving Justice Arana warned him that he could be brought back to face another trial for the same case. He explained that he had no idea why his daughter, now 11 years old would have made an allegation against him.
