Jury reaches verdict after defendant testifies in Greene County rape trial

A 12-person jury has acquitted a 20-year-old man of charges that he sexually assaulted a woman in Xenia Twp.

Myron Walker has been released from the Greene County Jail after his trial ended Wednesday with a not guilty verdict on charges of rape and gross sexual imposition.

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The jury deliberated for approximately two and a half hours before coming to a decision, according to Walker’s attorney Travis Kane.

The alleged victim, a 19-year-old female, testified that she was forced to have sex with the defendant at a home on Eavey Street on the afternoon of Jan. 22, 2017.

Kane said his client testified in his own defense, telling the jury what he told investigators from the outset, that the sex was consensual.

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“There was no dispute that they had sexual relations,” Kane said. “The only issue was to determine if the sex was consensual or forced. My client maintained from the beginning that it was consensual. He never deviated from that.”

Walker was previously acquitted by a jury of a rape charge in a separate case. That verdict was reached in January 2017, the same month that the new rape allegations emerged.

Assistant Prosecutor David Morrison tried the case. Speaking on his behalf, Greene County Prosecutor Stephen Haller said rape cases are “always difficult,” in part because there are rarely witnesses to the alleged crimes.

Despite the difficulties, Haller said his office “will not flinch or turn away from these cases.”

“We believed that we had probable cause to go forward that the sex was without consent. Unfortunately the jury found otherwise and we have to respect their verdict,” Haller said.

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