Jury acquits Susquehanna man

BY STACI WILSON

After about four hours of deliberations a jury came back. Sept. 14, with not guilty verdict on a rape count lodged against a Susquehanna man.

The jury of nine women and three men, however, deadlocked on a sexual assault charged lodged against Lee Slocum, 41.

District Attorney Jason Legg said he has not yet decided whether to retry the sexual assault charge.

Charges were brought against Slocum after a 20-year- old woman accused the man of sexually assaulting her in her Ararat Twp. home in May 2008.

The Susquehanna County Independent does not identify the victims of alleged sexual assaults.

Testimony in the two-day trial was interrupted Sept. 7 by widespread flooding in the region. Court resumed a week later on Sept. 14.

The woman took the stand during the first day of the trial and recounted her version of events on May 25, 2008.

She told the jury she had been drinking the night before and awoke in the morning to Slocum having sex with her.

Slocum took the stand in his own defense on Sept. 14. He said the woman willingly participated in the sexual encounter and he had even planned to take her to a party later that day.

In closing arguments, Slocum’s attorney Paul Ackourey likened the situation to a case of “buyer’s remorse” He said the woman was afraid of “losing face” with family and friends if they found out she had sex with the much older man.

Legg argued that it was not a case of “buyer’s remorse” but a case of rape.

He told the jury the woman’s story had not changed since she went to the hospital and a rape kit was performed and that the defendant had three years to come up with his version of the story.