An eighteen-year-old was yesterday acquitted of charges that he sexually assaulted a little girl on multiple occasions.
After almost five hours of deliberations, a 12-member mixed jury found Autry Bess not guilty by a proportion of 11 to 1 on the charge of having sexual activity with a child under 16 years of age.
Meanwhile, on the second and third counts of rape of the said child, he was also found not guilty by a proportion of 10 to 2 and 11 to 1, respectively.
It was the state’s case that the alleged assaults occurred in November, 2013, when the girl was eight-years-old, and July, 2014, when she was nine-years-old.
It was the state’s case that at the time the alleged offences were committed, Bess had been a visitor at the young girl’s home, where on the first occasion, he touched her buttocks and vagina.
On two subsequent occasions, the former accused was alleged to have sexually penetrated the child.
Justice Jo-Ann Barlow, who presided over the trial, told Bess that he was still young and should take every opportunity of making “something good for your life.”
Noting the presence of his mother, who attended the trial, the judge told him it seemed he had the support of family, and should use that also as a means of improving his life.
Justice Barlow recalled the young man’s uncle, who testified at the trial, referring to him as a troublemaker. She told the teen that he should hereafter live his life in such a way that people do not attach labels to him.
Though Bess was cleared by the jury, however, he was returned to prison, where he is currently serving a two-year sentence on an unrelated charge.
Bess was represented by defence attorneys Dexter Todd and Folio Richards.
The state’s case, meanwhile, was presented by prosecutors Shawnette Austin, Tamieka Clarke and Mandell Moore.
The trial was held in camera.
