The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Man not guilty in baby rape case
Jacob Champion was found not guilty Nov. 29 of all charges that he raped a 17-month-old boy in 2016 after a three-day bench trial.
Champion, 26, of Lorain, was charged with two counts of rape and single counts of felonious assault and endangering children.
But Lorain County Common Pleas Judge John R. Miraldi acquitted Champion after he found the Lorain County Prosecutor’s Office failed to meet their burden of proof on the charges.
The state had argued Champion used an object to sexually assault the boy resulting in multiple injuries to his anus and rectum Aug. 1 or 2, 2016.
The injuries were discovered the morning of Aug. 2, 2016, when the victim’s mother found blood on the boy’s bed sheets and in his diaper and took him to the hospital.
Champion’s attorney, Brian Darling, said in his closing arguments that police had failed to look at all of the possible suspects in the crime.
At the time of the sexual assault, Darling said, Champion, the victim’s mother and another child were in the home.
He said one individual who was interviewed by the police told them to look at the other child in the home as a suspect.
“I think the evidence shows it’s as possible as anything else and when you’ve got something like that, you’ve got to come to the conclusion that Jacob’s not guilty,” Darling said.
The attorney also called into question what he described as the prosecution’s ignoring of evidence of previous injuries to the child.
“It’s the course of action to disregard all that and focus specifically on the 24 hours leading up to the discovery of the bloody diapers,” Darling said.
Even beyond the three people in the house at the time the alleged assault occurred, Darling called into question the people who had contact with the child while he spent time at a grandparent’s home as possible suspects.
Speaking to The Morning
Journal after the verdict was announced, Darling reiterated that it was as likely that other people in the home had assaulted the victim as his client.
“When you have multiple explanations to the same crime, multiple suspects, the just result is a not guilty verdict,” he said.
According to court documents, Kirstin Bell, 27, of Elyria, still is facing a single count of endangering children in connection to the incident.
But Darling said there was an agreement between Bell and the Prosecutor’s Office that if she testified in Champion’s trial, that charge would be dismissed.
Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will was unavailable for comment on the case or the alleged deal with Bell.