A jury on Friday found a former St. Thomas track athlete not guilty of sexually assaulting a member of the university’s women’s track team at an off-campus house party in 2022.
Jurors deliberated for 90 minutes before acquitting Jack Samuel Osborne, 25, of St. Paul, of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct of a person who is mentally impaired or physically helpless.
The woman told police and testified during the 11-day trial that she blacked out after drinking alcohol and woke to find a naked male having sexual intercourse with her. She said she’d never met Osborne before that night.
Osborne was a member of the St. Thomas track and field team until spring 2020, and graduated from the school two years later.
In Friday’s closing argument, Osborne’s attorney, Nicole Kettwick, revisited the woman’s testimony, calling it “inconsistent and ever-evolving.”
“Her story and lack of memory has conveniently changed to fit whatever narrative is most useful to the prosecution,” she said.
Kettwick took jurors through what she said were “major missteps” in the police investigation, “how key evidence was ignored, how leads were not followed, and how time and time again, the investigation focused only on what fit their preconceived story.”
After the verdict, Kettwick said her office hired an independent investigator and used their own resources internally — paralegals, law clerks and attorneys — to interview witnesses that police did not. She said they also went through text messages and social-media posts, which police failed to do.
“We just kept following the trails even at the trial,” she said. “Some witnesses mentioned names in the middle of trial that we hadn’t even heard of before.”
She added, “We’re happy that the jury took the case seriously and paid attention and caught the details. But it’s just tragic for everyone involved to go through this … and I think that’s important to acknowledge, too.”
Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said in a statement that, “While we are disappointed in the jury’s decision, we respect their verdict. Taking on these difficult cases starts with a willingness to believe victims who report sexual violence. We felt we held true to that commitment despite today’s outcome.
The allegations
The woman told police on March 7, 2022, that she went to an “initiation party” for her track team around 7:30 p.m. March 5 and that she and others were served alcoholic drinks by older track team members. At about 9 p.m., the woman and her teammates went to the house party. She recalled feeling highly intoxicated and vomiting in the bathroom at the party.
She told police she blacked out and woke up to Osborne sexually assaulting her. She described “being in a state of shock and not able to move or say anything,” then blacked out again.
“The state is not saying that Mr. Osborne was following around (the woman) all night, harassing her, stalking her, giving her alcohol,” Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Nicole Harris said in the state’s closing argument. “But behind those closed doors, when drunk, (the woman) walked into (his bedroom) and this defendant put on a condom to sexually penetrate her while she was incapacitated and physically helpless.”
The woman told police she recalled regaining consciousness, and that one of her teammates entered the bedroom and asked what was going on. The teammate talked to Osborne, who left the room.
She told police and testified that teammates brought her back to her dorm room. On direct examination from the defense, she said she went to sleep and woke up the next day and “went about her day like normal,” Kettwick said in her closing argument. “Boy, did that catch my ear. She said her next day was a normal day.”
Investigators spoke with a handful of people who were at the party, with two telling them the woman and Osborne were both drunk.
“We’ve heard multiple witnesses testify to her intoxication level,” Harris told jurors.
When Osborne was arrested, he denied any wrongdoing and chose not to speak with police.
Kettwick pointed out to jurors the woman told her sister the next day that Osborne stopped raping her when one of her teammates walked into the bedroom. “That’s her version,” Kettwick said. “(The teammate) says Jack was sitting at his desk wearing clothes.”
Kettwick also pointed out that a men’s track member testified that when he opened the door to Osborne’s bedroom, the woman was crawling on top of Osborne. “It was clear they were about to get intimate,” Kettwick said. “He had no concerns about her safety. (The woman) was not in distress.”
During the trial, jurors saw a selfie that the woman took while in Osborne’s bed. He was lying on his back.
“How can you snap a selfie and be physically helpless or mentally incapacitated?” Kettwick asked jurors.
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