76-year-old man cleared in child rape
Accuser alleged she was attacked at age 4 in West Palm Beach apartment
It took only two hours for a Palm Beach County jury on Friday to return a not guilty verdict for a 76-year-old man who was accused of raping a 4-year-old girl 27 years ago.
John Joseph Sheehan, who was arrested early last year following a longdelayed investigation, walked out of the courthouse in West Palm Beach minutes after he was acquitted.
“I’m happy I’m going home,” said Sheehan, accompanied by his girlfriend and attorneys. “It was a very good Christmas present.”
Sheehan had faced mandatory life in prison if convicted. Instead, the jury of
“I’m happy I’m going home. It was a very good Christmas present.” John Joseph Sheehan
four women and two men decided on the acquittal. The jurors could not be reached for comment after the verdict, despite attempts by phone.
Sheehan, who has been in jail for nearly two years awaiting trial, thanked his lawyers for fighting for his freedom.
“We’re happy he’ll be home with his partner for Christmas,” said Assistant Public Defender Summer Barnes, joined by Assistant Public Defender Nicolas Stebinger.
Sheehan prevailed in a trial that featured his confessions to detectives that he abused his former neighbor. Those admissions came after he said he believed the time had expired for charges to be filed against him.
On Thursday, Sheehan told the jury his statements to police were lies because of a desire to tell them what he thought they wanted to hear.
He testified that he admitted the rape in multiple interviews with police because: he felt pressured to keep up the same lie; had memories of being raped by his father at age 8 while growing up in New York City, and was feeling the effects of drugs he takes to treat lung disease.
But prosecutors said Sheehan, when approached by police with the allegations, never challenged the claim that he had raped the girl on her bed inside a studio apartment in downtown West Palm Beach.
“He admitted to everything he did,” prosecutor Takisha Richardson said in her closing argument. “This happened. This is real.”
His accuser, now 31, first came forward at 21 after being haunted for years by memories of the attack, she told police. But her initial reporting in 2008 fell through the cracks and wasn’t revived by detectives until early last year.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel is not identifying the woman because of the nature of the charge, sexual battery on a person less than 12 years of age.