Jury will resume deliberations Thursday morning
ONTONAGON -- Six hours of deliberation and still no verdict in the trial of the Ontonagon man accused of raping a 17-year-old girl.
Jurors were dismissed for the day after telling the judge twice that they were unable to reach a unanimous decision. The jury began deliberations shortly after the judge explained the three verdict options.: they could find the defendant not guilty, guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the third degree-requiring proof of penetration, or guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree-requiring proof of penetration and personal injury.
Ontonagon County Prosecutor Jim Jessup urged them to convict 36-year-old Stefan Savage of the most serious charge.
"Just because she put herself in Mr. Savage's apartment to have a good time, that does not allow Mr. Savage to rape her, no matter what," said Jessup. "There’s no excuse for what happened that night."
After the first three hours of deliberation, the jury requested to review the court transcripts. Instead court went back into session and replayed Tuesday’s testimony from sexual assault nurse examiner Kelly Engle.
It appeared the jury wanted clarification of evidence that Defense Attorney Rudolph Perhalla refuted in his closing argument.
"The only evidence of physical injury was two small tears,” said Perhalla. “I asked Kelly Engle if that could have happened during consensual sex and she said, ‘Yes.’"
After the second report that the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision, the judge told them they could go home for the night, but they'll have to be back in court at 9:30 Thursday morning to resume deliberations.
And if they do decide to convict Savage of the most serious charge, he could be facing life in prison.