18-year-old acquitted of rape, other charges

Goshen - An Orange County Court jury yesterday acquitted an 18-year-old Town of Wallkill man of rape and other charges that could have landed him state prison for 25 years.

Michael Martinez was arrested in February by state police after they received a complaint from an 18-year-old woman that she had been raped by Martinez at his home while another man restrained her. The second man was never charged.

When the woman testified during a trial that began last week, her account contained several inconsistencies. The bruises on her arms didn't match her description of how she was restrained. Martinez 's lawyer, John Ingrassia, also questioned why the woman testified during the trial that she cried out during the attack, while she didn't give that detail to police or mention it during her grand jury testimony.

Martinez 's father, Mario, wept as the jury delivered the verdict yesterday before Judge Stewart Rosenwasser.

"It was a nightmare - for my son and my family. I'm grateful to God that this happened this way," the elder Martinez said last night. "My son came through this innocent. But he's scarred."

* Reprinted with permission of The Times Herald-Record

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