From: Mad River Union
By Paul Mann 6/16/16
Julia D.Fox of Rains Lucia Stern, PC, Pleasant Hill, stated, “We’re grateful that the jury got right what the district attorney’s office wouldn’t and that was the truth of the matter.”
Daniels declined to respond to a press inquiry about his acquittal, but Fox said, “After nearly three years, Jason has been vindicated. The right thing happened.”
A male juror interviewed just outside the courthouse, who asked to remain anonymous, said of the state’s case, prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Brie Bennett, “It was the bar of reasonable doubt which we were instructed by the court that the prosecution had to meet which led to our not guilty verdict.
“It’s not that we didn’t believe the witnesses as to the general accusations” lodged by plaintiffs Jane Doe 1 and 2, whose names were withheld to protect their privacy and security, this juror said,
“[But] the testimonies of the People’s witnesses did not help us over that bar” of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, he explained. He referred not only to the plaintiffs, who testified on their own behalf, but also to the multiple law enforcement officers and district attorney investigators who took the witness stand in support of DA Bennett’s case.
The juror did not single out one or another officer or investigator but emphasized a second factor “required of us by the court” to meet, the state’s legal definition of “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
That definition is “an abiding conviction that the charge is true.”
Adhering to that standard, the jury based its decision “on what was presented to us and, regardless of our personal feelings, we concurred” on the acquittal of all three sexual assault charges leveled at Daniels by the two females The charges comprised two counts of alleged felony sexual assault and one count of misdemeanor sexual battery.
Deputy District Attorney Bennett and District Attorney Maggie Fleming huddled privately with colleagues for a post-mortem on the acquittal and could not be reached immediately for comment.
