Jury finds Youngwood man not guilty of rape, sex assault

A Westmoreland County jury found a Youngwood man not guilty of rape and other crimes in connection with allegations made by an 18-year-old woman who claimed he held her captive and sexually assaulted her January.

After three hours of deliberations Thursday, Brandon Giron, 23, was convicted of one misdemeanor charge of simple assault, but acquitted of charges including rape, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, aggravated indecent assault and other offenses in connection with an incident his accuser claimed took place at his home on Jan. 3.

In an second unrelated case, the jury convicted Giron of 11 drug-related offenses including the possession of marijuana, fentanyl and cocaine among other drugs that were recovered during a search of his home as police investigated the rape allegations.

Giron’s accuser testified she walked over his home shortly after 2:30 a.m. to smoke marijuana and while there she was drugged, tied up and repeatedly raped over a period of nearly four hours.

In her closing argument to the jury, Deputy Attorney General Kara Rice said Giron’s DNA was recovered from a rape kit taken from the woman at a Greensburg hospital hours after the alleged sexual assault and his DNA also was discovered on a belt the accuser said was used to bind her hands.

Jurors were shown pictures of bruises the woman claimed were inflicted by Giron.

“The evidence is there for you to hand down justice for her pain and the torture (she) endured,” Rice said. “The defense attorney asked you not to label his client, but he chose that label for himself. He gave himself that label.”

Giron did not testify during the trial and the defense presented no witnesses on his behalf.

Defense attorney Brian Aston suggested the woman’s testimony was not credible and that the relationship between Giron and the accuser was consensual. In his closing argument, Aston never directly said the two were romantically linked or engaged in any specific sexual behavior.

“I am asking you to acquit on all of the sexual offenses. It was not a crime and it has not been proven to be a crime,” Aston said.

The defense did not contest the drug-related allegations.

Common Pleas Court Judge Rita Hathaway ordered Giron to remain in jail pending a sentencing hearing that will be convened in about three months. Giron has been in jail since his arrest in February.