Man Facing Ten Years in Prison and Lifetime Sex Offender Registration Gets Acquittal

Sept. 25, 2012 - PRLog -- During August/September of 2012, attorney Kerry L. Armstrong, a San Diego, California criminal defense attorney conducted a two-week trial on behalf of his ex-Navy client (He was honorably discharged in February 2012.) However, he was indeed in the Navy at the time of the incident in November 2010. Mr. Armstrong’s client happened to be on active duty at the time of the incident, and this man had been accused of performing oral sex on two young Marines who said that they were highly under the influence of alcohol (drunk) and drugged at the time of the alleged incident.

Each of the young men said that when they woke up they found themselves receiving oral sex from Mr. Armstrong’s client, and that they were unable to push the man away. If convicted, Mr. Armstrong’s client would have faced up to ten years in a state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration.

The prosecution had submitted evidence that had indicated that the client had drugged one of the witnesses weeks prior to the incident in question, and the evidence was suggesting that Mr. Armstrong’s client had performed oral sex on the young man at that earlier point in time as well. In addition to the two complaining witnesses, Mr. Armstrong’s client also had a Marine Corp priest and a sergeant testify against him.

After a very intense two week-long trial, and after carefully listening to witness testimony and reviewing the evidence presented in the case, the jury elected to acquit Armstrong’s client on the two counts pertaining to the first complaining witness, and the jury was hung on the two counts regarding the second complaining witness.

The vote on the first hung count was 11-1 and the vote on the second hung count was 9-3, with the larger percentage of votes being not-guilty. After the trial was over several of the jurors hugged Mr. Armstrong’s client in the hallway in an unusual display of empathy and understanding. They also wrote positive letters to the judge about him.

Prior to Mr. Armstrong taking on this difficult case, the client had secured another attorney who had worked on the case for eight months. The first attorney told Mr. Armstrong repeatedly that there was no way that he could win the trial because the case was just too difficult.

Although the client was homosexual, at the time of the incident (November of 2010), the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was still in effect. Therefore, the homosexual client kept to himself about his sexual preferences. The two complaining witnesses admitted at the trial that the worst thing in the military was for your fellow soldiers to find out that you were gay. Mr. Armstrong believes the two young Marines lied about being drugged or extremely intoxicated when they received the oral sex from his client.

A jury consultant was hired for the client in this case. She did an excellent job preparing the client for testimony, and she was successful at calming him down throughout the trial. Mr. Armstrong also hired a toxicologist (to discuss the lack of drugs found in the complaining witnesses’ urine), and he hired a psychologist (to explain blackouts and how people can do things after heavy drinking, and not recall those actions the following day). After the verdicts were rendered, Mr. Armstrong received one of the best compliments he has ever been given. Several members of the jury told him that after he cross-examined the Catholic priest, they did not even believe the priest. The Law Offices of Kerry L. Armstrong, APLC is a sex crime defense law firm located in San Diego, California. Mr. Armstrong handles all types of sex crime cases including but not limited to rape, internet sex crimes, child molestation, prostitution and many more. To contact Mr. Armstrong regarding your sex crime case, please call (619) 268-4682 or you can visit the firm’s website online at http://www.SanDiegoSexCrimesDefense.com.