SEVEN days after its client’s conviction, the Public Defender’s Office filed a motion for judgment of acquittal in a rape case, requesting the Superior Court to set aside the jury’s verdict.
On Sept. 13, a jury of five women and one man found William Abraczinskas, 36, guilty of sexual assault in the first degree, assault and battery, and disturbing the peace.
He self-surrendered to the Department of Corrections the next day at 9 a.m.
Judge Pro Tempore Elyze M. Iriarte, who presided over the trial, said Abraczinskas will be sentenced in January 2025.
In PDO’s motion on Friday, Assistant Public Defender Charlene Brown said the evidence presented by the government failed to establish that the alleged offenses were committed by the defendant and therefore failed to prove the elements of the crime alleged in the information.
She said the “defendant offered a reasonable alternative explanation to the evidence presented, which pointed to his innocence. Therefore, there was insufficient evidence presented for a conviction on any counts in the information.”
During the jury trial, Brown said, “no prosecution witness could testify to the contradiction of evidence that was found in the WhatsApp conversations. Thus, the prosecution’s only evidence that the defendant sexually assaulted the alleged victim was the alleged victim herself.”
“However,” Brown added, “at trial, the WhatsApp conversations that were admitted into evidence contradicted the alleged victim’s version of events. Of note, the prosecutor was the party that admitted the WhatsApp conversation into evidence. The jury, in effect, improperly shifted the burden of proof to the defendant in this case to prove his innocence, rather than holding the government to its burden to prove the defendant’s guilt.”
Brown said given “that there is a reasonable interpretation of all the evidence presented that points to the defendant’s innocence, the jury erred by finding him guilty on Counts I, II, and III of the information. The evidence is insufficient to support convictions as to those counts or any other counts in the information, because the government failed to prove the elements of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Assistant Public Defender Karie Comstock also represented the defendant during the trial while Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds and Assistant Attorney General Frances Demapan prosecuted the case.
Abraczinskas is a former law clerk of Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo while his accuser is Abraczinskas’ former co-worker.
During the trial, the prosecution called seven witnesses. They were Department of Public Safety Detective Shannon Dela Cruz, Police Officer Hector Efraim, the judiciary’s human resources officer, Michelle Guerrero, Judge Govendo, judiciary deputy clerk Pearleen Matagolai, Beach Garden manager Antonio Reyes, and the victim herself.
The defense did not call any witnesses.
Background
On May 26, 2023, police received a walk-in complaint from a judicial employee, who accused her co-worker, Abraczinskas, of sexually assaulting her on April 8, 2023, at Beach Garden Apartments.
She also told investigators that she had learned that Abraczinskas filed a sexual harassment complaint against her with the judiciary’s human resources office.
After meeting with HR and opening up to her supervisor about the sexual assault, she said she found the courage to come to the Department of Public Safety and tell her side of the incident.
Abraczinskas denied the charges. During the trial, Brown said “the case is about humiliation, about resentment, and it is about retaliation.”
