CLEARFIELD – On Thursday, a jury acquitted a West Decatur man of all charges in a sexual assault case.
Brian D. Stone, 42, had been charged with 50 counts of various offenses involving an alleged ongoing pattern of sexual assault with a girl beginning when she was only seven years old.
The jury deliberated over three hours before asking specially presiding Senior Judge Richard Masson of Elk/Cameron County, to review with them again, the definitions of all of the charges that included rape, criminal attempt/rape, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and intimidating the victim.
Approximately 20 minutes later, they returned with their verdicts.
During the first day of the trial, a relative of the girl testified for the commonwealth but at the start of the second day, District Attorney Ryan Sayers asked her to be considered a hostile witness. At one point as she continued her testimony Thursday, he accused her of rehearsing it.
When he asked her if she was saying the girl was lying about the assaults, she stated that she was not going to say that, but was only telling the truth “from my perspective.”
Stone also testified in his own defense.
He explained that he was never alone with the girl and therefore could not have committed the acts she accused him of doing. He did admit that he was a previous drug user, which was why he wasn’t trusted.
The girl’s relative had also testified that Stone was never alone with the girl.
His attorney, Marc Decker, reviewed many of the settings for the alleged abuse with Stone responding that he was not alone with her.
In her cross-examination, Deputy District Attorney Trudy Lumadue pressed Stone on his timeline for the ages of the girl when the alleged assaults occurred, which contradicted her actual age.
During her questioning, Lumadue realized that “not being alone” with the girl to Stone meant that he was never in her home without someone else being there, which he verified, saying at times, he was alone in a room with her, but there was always someone else in the house.
A video of Stone apologizing to the girl after charges had been filed, was played during the first day of the trial and again Thursday. In it, he is crying and mentions that he will be “going away for a long time.”
It was made while he was under the influence of drugs and was not yet aware of the specific charges against him, he testified.
After the verdicts were read, Masson ordered for Stone to be released from the custody of the jail where he has been held on $250,000 bail since his arrest in January of 2021.