CLEARFIELD – On Tuesday, a former Coalport woman was acquitted of the alleged sexual assaults of three underage boys in March and April 2021.
Sarah K. Lichty, 29, now of Rochester, N.Y., had been charged by Clearfield state police with felony statutory sexual assault and misdemeanor corruption of minors (three counts).
The jury entered into their deliberations at 11:05 a.m. and reached its verdict approximately 26 minutes later.
As jurors were polled to announce their agreement with the verdict, some of those present to support Lichty wept.
Once court adjourned, Lichty made her way to the back of the courtroom to embrace them.
In his closing arguments, Lichty’s attorney, Thomas M. Dickey was relentless in his criticism of the state police investigation and lack of corroboration in the commonwealth’s case.
He said the “proof was in the pudding” – or in this case the cell phones – “and they didn’t even bother to look.”
He likened cell phones nowadays to computers saying everything we do is right there and police have the authority to obtain it.
“We heard so much about these pictures and messages,” Dickey argued. “The phone – that’s the most important evidence.
“You watch the TV shows … in cases like this, that’s the first thing they get, a search warrant for the phone.”
Instead, he said the trooper’s focus was on getting his client to “fess up” though she consistently stated “nothing happened, nothing happened.”
At the conclusion of his arguments, Dickey again asked jurors to “be that juror” they would want if the roles were reversed and they were on trial.
Deputy District Attorney Trudy Lumadue countered, arguing the commonwealth did have corroboration, and had not one, but three boys come into court and tell the same story that’s been maintained for almost two years.
She said the boys had absolutely no motive to lie about the alleged assaults, but Dickey wanted to get jurors to “just throw that all away because that is facts, that is evidence.”
Lumadue asked jurors to not get distracted by what evidence wasn’t presented in court. She said there’s a reason people use SnapChat, “It goes away.”
Sex crimes happen in the dark, not in front of witnesses, she said, emphasizing the boys’ “incredibly specific” accounts were sufficient for a conviction.