Fairchance man acquitted of rape
After deliberating for an hour and a half, a jury of six men and six women cleared a Fairchance man of all charges related to the alleged abuse of two children in Fayette County Court on Wednesday.
Attorney Brent Peck, who represented 49-year-old Richard Mayfield, told the jury in closing arguments that the prosecution hadn’t provided much evidence in the case, beyond the accusations of the alleged victims.
Peck noted there had been no forensic, scientific or medical evidence tying Mayfield to the two accusers, now 30 and 20 years old.
He questioned why the two alleged victims, who know each other but live in separate states, would separately report incidents of sexual abuse to state police within 10 days of each other in 2013, over a decade after they each said they were abused.
“Is that a coincidence? No,” said Peck.
Mayfield was accused of raping a woman who said she was between 14 and 16 years old at the time, and sexually assaulting a man with mental disabilities who said he was between 5 and 8 years old.
In his closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Anthony S. Iannamorelli Jr. explained that sex crimes are crimes of secrecy, and that’s why the allegations surfaced so many years later. He characterized the man and woman who came to police to report alleged abuse as brave for having done so.
While Peck painted the alleged victims as vindictive, Iannamorelli countered by asking the jury what benefit the man and woman stood to gain by testifying in court.
“They get to come before you and disclose intimate details of their body to 14 strangers,” he said. He argued that the defense’s theory that the female alleged victim had a chip on her shoulder regarding confrontations she allegedly had with Mayfield in 2006 and 2008 at funerals didn’t make sense.
The female accuser wept in the gallery as the verdicts were read.
Outside the courtroom, the woman’s brother said the family was prepared for a defense verdict coming into the trial, based on the amount of time that had passed between the alleged acts and the time the charges were filed.
“It took great courage for my sister to step forward,” he said, adding that she did so in hopes of preventing other children from being abused.
“I don’t think there’s a person on the planet that has a child that this doesn’t hit close to home with,” he said.
He said he would encourage anyone who is a victim of sexual abuse to come forward and tell someone as soon as possible.
The brother said he and his family didn’t fault the jury for reaching the decision they reached, and that their task was a difficult one, considering the evidence they were presented with.
“We thought the DA did a good job, the best he could with what he had,” the man said. He extended his family’s gratitude to Iannamorelli and the police who helped bring the case to trial.
Iannamorelli declined comment following the verdict.
Peck said he was pleased with the outcome, and that coming into the trial, he had concerns because of the amount of evidence that was precluded from trail.
Said Peck, “The jury made the right decision.”