HANCOCK COUNTY — After hearing the jury’s verdict of not guilty, Joseph O’Neil walked over to his mother, who was sitting in the courtroom, and hugged her for several minutes.
A jury of nine men and three woman acquitted O’Neil on two Level 3 felony counts of rape and one Level 6 felony charge of sexual battery stemming from an incident in December of 2017.
The verdict was read by Judge Scott Sirk shortly after lunch on Thursday, Dec. 19, in Hancock County Circuit Court. Had O’Neil been found guilty, he was facing up to 16 years in prison on each of the rape charges.
O’Neil, 29, who is from Mount Vernon in Posey County, had been accused of forcing himself on a woman who he had been previously involved with when the two spent the night together. The woman, who lived in Greenfield at the time of the alleged attack, told police O’Neil had woken her in the middle of the night and raped her. O’Neil, who testified, said the sex act was consensual.
After the verdict was announced, O’Neil’s attorney, Brian Cook of Carmel, wiped tears as members of the jury came over offering congratulations to his client.
“I think justice was served,” Cook said. “When someone is accused of a sex crime, as a man, in the media and in the public, you’re guilty until proven innocent.”
Cook said the claims of rape and sexual battery made by the woman were false and he was thrilled to see the jury agreed with him. He also said he was emotional because had he lost the case, it would have destroyed his client’s life.
“He’s got three kids, and if he would have been convicted they would have been taken away and he would have been labeled a lifetime sex offender,” Cook said.
Deputy prosecutors Catherine Wilson and Kevin Kelly both declined comment after the verdict was announced. They called five witnesses to try and prove the state’s case, including the victim, a nurse, a data analyst as well as the officer who took the initial report and a detective who investigated the incident.
During closing arguments, Wilson told the jury the victim deserved the protection of the law regardless of how many times she and O’Neil had sexual relations in the past or how many sexually explicit photos they had shared during their relationship.
“She was compelled to have sex with him by force,” Wilson said.
In his closing statement, Cook insisted prosecutors were only concerned about winning, and he told the jury the prosecutors didn’t care about justice.
“They have a train-wreck,” Cook said. “There is reasonable doubt.”
Kelly had the final word for the prosecution with the jury before they went into the deliberation room Thursday and asked the jury to pay attention to the evidence and not the statements of the defense attorney.
“There is no question in this case,” Kelly said. “Did she give consent? No. Everything she said was the truth.”
The jury however, didn’t see it that way and made their decision in less than two hours.
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