(Daytona Beach, Florida) Former Port Orange police officer Roberto Rosario was sentenced to six years in prison and then the judge threw out the verdict and the sentence because his instructions to the jury were flawed.Circuit Judge William Kennedy set aside that verdict and sentence because of an error in the jury instructions, according to his order, and because of how he read the law.Prosecutors asked Judge Kennedy to reconsider but he declined. It's unknown whether there will be an appeal.
In his ruling, the judge said, penetration rather than "union with" a victim's sex organ was required to support the sexual battery conviction a jury reached on Sept. 17.
Kennedy last week found the evidence presented made Rosario guilty, instead, of misdemeanor battery. The judge sentenced Rosario to 68 days in jail, time he already served. Rosario was freed Nov. 22.
With the judge's signature, Rosario's felony conviction and chance of being designated as a sexual predator was wiped away. Prosecutors say they are questioning whether the judge had jurisdiction to make the decision.
Florida Cop Faces Possible 30 Years in Sex Case
[Previous 9/18/10 post]
(Port Orange, Florida) A local police officer, Roberto Rosario, 34, was found guilty by a jury yesterday of first-degree sexual battery on a helpless person stemming from an incident where he performed unwelcome oral sex on an inebriated and unconscious female acquaintance.
Understandably, the female victim bolted to consciousness as a result of Rosario's hoovering. Her immediate reaction hasn't been reported but she subsequently filed a criminal complaint with the Port Orange Police Department.
According to Assistant State Attorney Christopher Kelly, Rosario will be sentenced by Circuit Judge Patrick Kennedy next month when he faces a possible term of 30 years in prison.
Tip: slwlion
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