Duhon Found Not Guilty of Aggravated Rape

Brandon Keith Duhon was found not guilty of aggravated rape after jurors deliberated on his fate for two hours on Thursday.   Duhon, 33, was accused of having sexual contact with an 8-year-old,child.

In her closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Guillory said Duhon was a guest in the child’s home and took advantage of him. Previous testimony revealed that the child lived with his “nanny” during the school week, and Duhon occasionally spent the night at the house.

“This defendant violated the greatest trust a child should have for adults ... he took his innocence,” Guillory told jurors.

She conceded that the child named other perpetrators in his children’s advocacy interview that jurors saw last week, but he consistently said Duhon was the only one who penetrated him during sex.

The child also claimed that his nanny’s sons, Robert Hendricks and Ronnie Hendricks, attempted to have sex with him on a different occasion. The Hendrickses took the stand Wednesday, but refused to testify in order to preserve their rights against self-incrimination.

When Lake Charles Police detective Joe Savoie testified this week, he said there is an active investigation into the allegations against the Hendrickses.

Guillory reminded jurors that Duhon was the one on trial, not the Hendrickses.

She saidthe child even maintained his story when he took the stand and faced cross-examination from Duhon’s defense attorney, King Alexander.

“Despite the defense’s attempt to shake him, he remained consistent that he was violated by thisdefendant,” Guillory said.

Alexander told jurors they should not ignore the reasonable doubt present in the case. He said it only takes a small amount of reasonable doubt to tarnish a case, much like it only takes “one maggot to ruin a sandwich.”

He said the child’s anal wound could not have been caused from the alleged sexual abuse, since the doctor — he examined the child weeks after the abuse was supposed to have occurred — said it would have already healed.

Alexander said the child’s story was consistent because the state had unlimited access to him in the time leading up to the trial. He left jurors with words he spoke during his opening statement last week: “If the evidence in this case is enough to convict this man of a sexual assault felony that carries life in prison ... then none of us are safe.”