SALEM, Mass. - Twelve jurors could not agree whether Lawrence police Officer Kevin Sledge was guilty of rape and indecent assault, prompting a superior court judge to declare a mistrial in the case.
Jurors began deliberations yesterday and reported to the judge twice today they were deadlocked 11 to 1 on the rape and indecent assault charges. They did find him not guilty of kidnapping.
The jurors did not say whether the hold-out felt Sledge was innocent or guilty. The judge declared a mistrial late this afternoon.
Sledge, 48, of Salem, N.H. is accused of picking up the alleged victim while on duty and in uniform. The woman alleges Sledge picked her up in his Jaguar, drove her back to the police station and left her in the car. Intoxicated and sick, the woman says Sledge returned to the car several times to rape and fondle her.
Prosecutor Kate MacDougall argued Sledge took advantage of the woman, using his authority as a police officer and her drunken state.
Sledge's lawyer John Morris countered that the woman had not been kidnapped, but was actually rescued from an "embarrassing situation."
He said she had gotten into a van with three men she did not know and was driving around the city with them. When Sledge saw what was going on, "he was trying to help someone who needed help," Morris said.
