Sexual assault charge against Greensburg man dismissed following mistrial

A pending sexual assault charge filed against a Greensburg man — who in February was found not guilty of the rape of an unconscious woman — was dismissed Thursday.

Following a three-day trial, jurors acquitted Emmanuel Lebbie, 25, of Greensburg of the felony rape count but deadlocked and failed to reach a verdict on a charge of sexual assault-related allegations made by the same woman. She claimed Lebbie assaulted her after she drank alcohol, consumed marijuana and fell asleep at a Greensburg house party in the early morning hours of Sept. 29, 2019.

The deadlocked jury resulted in a mistrial for the one remaining count against Lebbie. In court on Thursday, Westmoreland County Assistant District Attorney John Petrush said the prosecution will not seek to retry the case for the remaining sexual assault count.

“I put in all the evidence I believed I needed to present at the trial. Nevertheless, we got the verdict we got,” Petrush said. “The (woman) agrees, and she does not desire to go through this trial again.”

Lebbie spent more than 16 months in jail as he awaited trial on the rape and sexual assault charges. He was released in February on an unsecured bond after the jury verdict.

Witnesses testified during the trial they saw the woman passed out in a bedroom and Lebbie asleep on a couch in another room earlier that night. Another witness said he later went to check on the woman, found the bedroom door locked and when he pried it open saw Lebbie standing over the bed with his pants and underwear around his ankles and the woman still unconscious.

When the woman awoke, she complained of pain and suspected she was raped, according to the prosecution.

Prosecutors said Lebbie’s DNA was found on the woman’s body.

Lebbie testified at the trial he and his accuser had consensual sex and that she was the aggressor.