More here, article written before the verdict, gives some background.
The guy took the stand in his own defense.
Admitted to having sex with the girls.
This is one hell of an admission:
Hinson also took the stand again Sunday for a cross-examination by the prosecution.
“You certainly did get thrilled about telling this jury yesterday about your sexual activities with two 17-year-old girls,” Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Evans said to Hinson.
Hinson said he wasn’t excited while giving his testimony Saturday but was excited “at the time, sure, or I wouldn’t have gotten involved in it.”
“I’m smiling this morning. Would you rather I frown?” Hinson asked Evans on Sunday.
Here some late news from newswire.
“However, Hinson testified during the six-day trial that the girls had consensual sex with him. He said they made up the story so they would be able to take drugs from the underground room, which he used to store marijuana.
The two young women were not in the courtroom when Hinson was acquitted. Their mothers wept.
If convicted, Hinson had faced a mandatory life sentence without parole under the state’s two-strikes law because he was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl in 1991.
The underground room was about the length and width of a mid-sized car with a ceiling about 4 1/2 feet high. Hinson testified Sunday that he had built the room over two years.
Defense attorney Rick Hoefer spent 2 hours going over inconsistencies in the case.”
I only know one thing for sure:
If I’m ever accused of a crime, I want that damn defense attorney representing me.