acquitted

Auburn man acquitted on rape, sex trafficking and assault charges

AUBURN — A 58-year-old local man was acquitted Tuesday on rape, sex trafficking and assault charges after a four-day trial.

Willie Minor appears in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn last week for the start of his trial. He was acquitted Tuesday on all counts. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover

Willie Minor was facing four felonies, including gross sexual assault, which is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

He also faced charges of aggravated sex trafficking and aggravated assault, each carrying a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.

The fourth felony count, domestic violence assault, is punishable by up to five years in prison.

A jury of six men and six women returned not guilty verdicts on all six counts, including two misdemeanors.

A 45-year-old woman who was homeless, addicted to crack and heroin and working as a prostitute to feed her drug habit said she had met Minor on a Lewiston Street in the summer of 2016.

She said he raped her, then forced her into prostitution after she had stopped the practice when she moved into his apartment.

Taking the witness stand, she said Minor had forced her to advertise online for oral sex and suffered regular beatings at his hands, including an assault with a sledge hammer on Thanksgiving morning when he gave her a scalp wound.

She said he had threatened her with a handgun Minor kept in a locked bathroom cabinet.

Minor’s testimony countered his alleged victim’s account, telling the jury he was the one who suffered her assaults. He said the two of them had consensual sex and she had full control of her prostitution practice after she drained his bank account to support her drug habit.

During its more than three-hour deliberation, the jury asked for more coffee, the sledge hammer and a clearer definition of violation of privacy, one of the misdemeanor charges.

Prosecutors presented physical evidence, including a broken plate, a clump of the woman’s hair found in the kitchen trash and photos of the woman’s cuts and bruises taken during her stay at the emergency room at a Lewiston hospital, where she was taken after her sister brought her to the police station.

Defense lawyer James Howaniec portrayed Minor as a “pathetic” and “feeble” old man who was caught up in a lurid sex web, sometimes including threesomes. He said the police testimony and physical evidence supported the defense’s account of events, not the alleged victim’s.

He said her claim she had been raped by Minor, then afterward asked for his phone number, did not make sense. Neither did her being in love with a man who beat her routinely, Howaniec said.

Howaniec said Tuesday, after the verdict was read by the court clerk, he was pleased with the acquittals on all charges.

“It’s been a long, nearly three-year ordeal for my client,” he said.

Howaniec said he surmised the jury had “some difficulty with the testimony of the alleged victim.”He credited the jury with spending the time needed to process all of the facts in the case to return verdicts on all six counts.

Howaniec said Minor is “obviously very pleased to have this behind him,” especially in light of the penalties for the four felony counts.

“We’re all relieved on his behalf,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Nathan Walsh, who prosecuted the case, said Tuesday, “We’re disappointed, but respect the jury’s decision.”

Minor was convicted in federal court in April 2018 of having a gun after being convicted on a domestic violence charge.

He asked for a different court-appointed lawyer shortly before the jury was selected for his trial, but the judge told Minor he could keep his lawyer or go it alone.

Last summer, a judge declared a mistrial on the charges after a witness mentioned federal criminal charges during testimony.

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2 acquitted of homicide in 2016 slaying in Harrisburg alley

Published 11:47 am PST, Monday, February 18, 2019

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A jury has acquitted two men of homicide charges in the death of a man gunned down in an alley in Pennsylvania's capital city.

Jurors in Dauphin County deliberated for about two hours Friday before acquitting 28-year-old Vernon King and 29-year-old Kurt Tasker.

Tasker was acquitted of all charges. His attorney said he wasn't at the scene when 27-year-old Frank Whitlock was gunned down in a Harrisburg alley.

King was convicted of a firearms offense. His attorney said he turned down a plea deal that would have had him plead to a third-degree murder count.

Whitlock, who went by the nickname "Frank Nitty," was slain three months after release from prison after serving time on convictions of robbery and theft.

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Man acquitted of murdering Ascension teen speaks out in first sit-down interview

BATON ROUGE - Four days after 19-year old Jacob Westbrook was acquitted of murdering 18-year old Todd Toups, he sat down with WBRZ discussing his future plans and the sorrow he has for the Toups family.

"I'm sorry," Westbrook said. "I hate the grief you're going through. I doubt that you all will forgive me. If it was the other way around, I'd be highly angry. It's a nightmare and one I don't want to go through at all."

Westbrook was 16 years old at the time he stabbed Toups to death. According to Westbrook's lawyers, Toups showed up at a trailer where Westbrook was, tried to pick a fight and was the aggressor. That's when Westbrook got a knife. When Toups swung at him, he closed his eyes and used the knife. Toups died as a result of his injuries.

The jury believed the self-defense claims and acquitted Westbrook on Thursday night.

Westbrook was in jail for the last three years as he awaited a trial on those murder charges. During the time he was locked up, his attorneys said he was raped twice in jail.

"After being ordered by the court to be in protective custody he was sexually assaulted at the jail," defense lawyer Jarrett Ambeau said. "Went through the most foul and disgusting thing at a jail, a forcible sexual assault. So we've filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages."

Ambeau is working with defense lawyer Aidan Reynolds on that case. According to Ambeau, he feels for the Toups family but said the justice system worked as it should.

"I don't want to minimize the pain and the hurt those people are feeling," Ambeau said. "It's the system we have, and the system we have found Jacob Westbrook not guilty."

Westbrook said now that the jury has given him a second chance at life, he intends to get his driver's license, complete his GED and attend college someday. In the meantime, he wants to get hired at a shipyard and is currently living out of state.

"I learned to find myself," Westbrook said speaking about the three years he spent in jail.

Westbrook said he owes his life to his lawyers.

"For my attorneys, thank you," Westbrook said. "There's no way to express my gratitude and how deep it goes."