“We are disappointed in the outcome, but grateful for the jury’s service,” chief prosecutor Michael Ernest said in an e-mail to the Variety.
Assistant Attorneys General Eli Golob and Brian Gallagher prosecuted the case.
Stephen J. Nutting, the defense attorney for Paul H. Taitano, said he is hoping that government prosecutors will become “zealous advocates of justice” and “not just zealous advocates of the law.”
On late Wednesday afternoon, jurors found Taitano not guilty of the charge that he raped his former partner on May 26, 2010.
Superior Court Associate Judge Perry B. Inos also found Taitano not guilty of disturbing the peace.
The charge of burglary was earlier dismissed by Inos with prejudice as moved by Nutting.
“I am very pleased that the jury saw the situation for what it actually was,” Nutting said, adding: “This was an unfortunate case because the government had ‘facts’ which it believed were sufficient to prosecute my client to the full extent of the law.”
The law imposes a mandatory penalty of eight years in prison which the defense believed did not fit the alleged crime for which Taitano was charged, Nutting said.
“Too often the criminal justice system sees things as black and white. Police arriving on the scene take statements of emotional parties and bystanders,” Nutting said.
Based on those statements, Nutting said, “it is easy for the police to report one-sided ‘facts’ which are sufficient to charge a person with a crime.”
“If prosecutors only look at the ‘facts’ contained in the police report, and apply the ‘law’ without considering other extenuating circumstances, justice cannot be done,” Taitano’s defense attorney said.
“Experienced prosecutors understand that prosecution ‘to the full extent of the law’ is not always warranted, or just.
I hope that in the future the government will be more willing to view prosecuting cases, not just as a zealous advocate of the law, but more as a zealous advocate of justice. In the end the entire community will benefit,” Nutting added.
