Jury returns not guilty verdict in rape trial of Patton Law criminal defense client

It took a jury three-and-a-half hours on Thursday to find a Portage man not guilty of three rape-related felony charges.

Timmy A. Marshall, 39, of the 6200 block of Joyce Avenue, potentially faced up to 20 years in prison on each of the two Class B felony charges, rape and criminal deviate conduct, and up to eight years on Class C felony incest accusations that he committed the crimes in December 2013.

"Defense attorney Clay Patton argued that the girl's timeline made no sense. Patton said the girl told police she showered, was raped, showered again, gave her dad her cellphone, rode 20 minutes to Miller in Gary and then back, wrote a letter to Marshall petitioning for her phone back, and then texted her friends to call police between 2:30 p.m. and 3:40 p.m. Patton said she leveled the allegations to get away from Marshall and his strict rules, having already run away on a Greyhound bus back to Tennessee in August and having multiple discipline problems with him and at school before and after her accusations."

Attorney Patton argued that the DNA evidence was the result of having shared a shower with the defendant and was not a reliable indication of guilt.

Real the full article in the Post Tribune: https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-marshall-verdict-st-1202-20161202-story.html