The FIU student accused of assaulting a fellow student in her dorm room was found not guilty on all counts, Wednesday.
Brandon Allen, 21, had been charged with one count of false imprisonment, one count of battery and one county of indecent exposure.
However, the jury declared Allen not guilty. “We really didn’t find enough evidence to convict,” said juror Florence Ramos.
Closing arguments in the case of a male FIU student accused of assaulting a female student in her dorm were delivered, Wednesday morning, and the jury deliberated that afternoon, returning a verdict just before 4 p.m.
Video of the defendant’s questioning with police was also shown in court, Wednesday, before the jury began deliberating on the case.
The prosecution said the defendant, 21-year-old Brandon Allen, was originally rejected by the plaintiff.
“The defendant in this case, didn’t get what he wanted the first time he met the victim,” said the prosecutor in their closing arguments. “But he made sure that he got what he wanted the second time he met with her.”
On Tuesday, Allen and the plaintiff testified before the jury.
7News is not identifying or showing the face of the alleged victim, a former exchange student. She sat in a Miami courtroom on Tuesday as she tearfully recounted the moment when, she said, she was assaulted. “He was trying to kiss me in, like, my neck and stuff, and if I tried to ask him to stop, or if I said anything, he would cover my mouth,” she said, “and he was holding me down by my neck, so I couldn’t move, and my arms were still trapped under me.”
Allen said he and the young woman knew each other through mutual friends, and he thought that the two had a possible budding physical relationship after she had invited him to her room on a prior occasion. “I’d just been there four days previous to this,” he said.
The accuser said she’d rebuffed previous advances, as she was dating one of Allen’s fraternity brothers at the time. When he called at 2:30 a.m. on April 26, 2015, she said Allen asked for a hug before he attacked her.
The alleged victim said the suspect performed a sex act on himself that left DNA behind. “I was embarrassed, so I didn’t want my roommates to hear, so I didn’t yell or anything,” she said.
Allen said there was kissing and mutual fondling, but she told him they weren’t going to have intercourse. “We kept kissing and stuff, and eventually, like, nothing was going to happen, but I didn’t want to make it seem like that was all I was interested in, because it wasn’t,” he said.
Upon leaving the courtroom after the verdict was delivered, Allen voiced his thoughts. “They were false accusations, and the jury found me not guilty,” he said. “I knew all along that the people would find out the truth, and that’s all that matters. I’m glad justice was served.”
The woman who accused Allen of attacking her was not present in court when the verdict was read.
Back in December 2012, Allen, then 17, was the victim of a drive-by shooting in Miami while walking home from school.
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