After a six-day trial, a jury acquitted a 72-year-old Gresham man on all 16 charges ranging from first-degree rape to sex abuse allegedly involving two children.
Francisco Frank Galman spent nearly six months in jail between his arrest and the end of his trial on Tuesday, Feb. 19, before Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Edward Jones.
Gresham police arrested Galman on Aug. 20, 2012, on 18 counts of first-degree rape, attempted rape, sodomy and sex abuse, all of which allegedly involved two victims who were 12 years old or younger.
His trial on 16 of those counts resulted in an acquittal on all charges.
Prosecutor Heidi Moawad said she was disappointed by the verdict.
Cases such as these where there isn't any physical evidence and that rely primarily on children's testimony can be difficult to prove, she said.
The victims' family said Moawad did an outstanding job and tried a very strong case.
Unfortunately, it appears that the jury wasn't well enough equipped to handle the enormous responsibility that was placed upon them, wrote a relative, who asked not to be named in order to protect the identity of the alleged victims. We were informed after the trial that the jury wanted us to know that 'we believed that your children were abused by him, but there just wasn't enough evidence.' That statement is utterly dumbfounding, and in no uncertain terms, provides no cushion to the blow that this is both an inconceivable failure of the justice system, as well as, a disappointment of a lifetime for our family."
Galman's defense attorney William Dials did not respond to a request for comment by press time.