{"id":214461,"date":"2017-08-02T19:06:22","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T23:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-1.tempurl.host\/?p=214461"},"modified":"2017-11-04T14:52:13","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T18:52:13","slug":"eustis-man-found-not-guilty-rape-autisic-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegraphicgeek.com\/demo-cflwire\/eustis-man-found-not-guilty-rape-autisic-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Eustis man found not guilty in rape of autisic child"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAVARES, Fla.\u00a0— A Lake County jury apparently believed a Eustis man had nothing to do with blood found in the diaper of a 4-year-old autistic child he was changing last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or least there wasn\u2019t enough evidence to convict him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ronald Justin Howard walked out of his sexual battery trial late Tuesday a free man after jurors found him not guilty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Howard, 25, could have faced life in prison without parole if convicted. <\/span><\/p>\n

Howard, who was the boyfriend of the child\u2019s mother on Feb. 2 of last year, testified he was changing the girl\u2019s diaper that day and discovered blood in her stool and diaper. He thought her gastroenterology problems were flaring up. <\/span><\/p>\n

He said he then informed the mother of the issue and the child was eventually examined.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mother said she had seen no evidence of injury that morning, according to court records<\/span><\/p>\n

Police and other child abuse investigators eventually got involved and determined the child had been sexually battered and Howard was charged.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the two-day trial, there was a conflict between what Howard apparently told police during his interrogation and what he testified to on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Attired in a suit and sneakers, Howard was adamant on the stand that after he spotted blood in the child\u2019s diaper, he only wiped anti-biotics around the child\u2019s genitalia and not inside. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll I did was change a bloody, poopy diaper,\u201d Howard said on the stand.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Assistant State Attorney John Camerota pointed out that a video of Howard\u2019s interrogation showed him telling detectives that his finger or a wipe he used to clean her might have slipped into her genitalia and \u201cit was an accident.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Howard denied that\u2019s what he told police. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDid you watch the video,\u201d Camerota asked Howard, minutes before the defendant left the stand, ending the defense\u2019s list to two witnesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, one of the prosecution\u2019s witnesses, a doctor, stopped short Tuesday of saying he knew for sure the child had been sexually battered. A doctor for the defense testified he didn\u2019t believe the child was sexually battered — a doctor who admitted during cross examination that he was getting paid $300 an hour by the defense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Testimony on Tuesday also included photos of the child\u2019s genitalia flashed on a video screen with arguments of whether her hymen had been broken. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walter Forgie, supervisor of the State Attorney’s Office, said i<\/span><\/b>t would be speculation on his part to guess why the jury rendered the not guilty verdict.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

“As prosecutors we respect the province of the jury and their decision in this and all cases,” Forgie said.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/b>