(Original publication: October 28, 2003)
WHITE PLAINS, USA — A Ghanaian-born state correction officer accused of having sex with an inmate at the Taconic Correctional Facility earlier this year was acquitted yesterday of rape and sexual abuse charges.
Frederick Brenyah stood and embraced his attorney, Harvey Kaminsky, after the verdict was announced.
"I just thank God that the truth came out," an emotional Brenyah said outside the courtroom.
The jury of seven men and five women voted unanimously to find him not guilty of third-degree rape, a felony, and second-degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor. The verdict came on its second day of deliberations following a weeklong trial before state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Dickerson. Brenyah, who had been free on $2,500 bail and suspended without pay, would have faced up to four years in state prison and the permanent loss of his job and pension if convicted.
"I just hope he will be reinstated to his job,'' Kaminsky said. "We were hopeful throughout the trial, and I could see that the jury was really listening to the testimony. This whole case was about the credibility of the testimony. Mr. Brenyah was a man of fine credibility, and the woman who accused him had none.''
The 42-year-old inmate accused Brenyah of forcing her to have sex in the bathroom down the hall from her cell early on Feb. 25, during the guard's 11 p.m.-to-7 a.m. shift, while 30 other inmates slept on the cellblock. She said he led her quietly from her cell and took her to the television room, where he told her he wanted to have sex. When she declined, she testified, Brenyah forcibly touched her and forced her to fondle him and said he wanted to talk to her in the bathroom. Once inside, she said, he propped her on the sink and forced her to have sex.
Later that day, she reported her allegations to a nun who was a counselor at the prison, though several inmates who testified for the defense said they heard her singing in the shower that morning. She told investigators that Brenyah's pubic hair appeared shaved, and pictures they took of his genitals four days later showed that it had been cut.
Brenyah testified Thursday that the 42-year-old inmate made up the account and that rumors might have accounted for her knowing his pubic hair was short. The husband and father of two said he never touched the woman inappropriately and she never made any sexual advances toward him.
Kaminsky argued to the jury that the woman's testimony was not credible and suggested that her motivation for accusing Brenyah was monetary. She acknowledged filing a lawsuit against Brenyah and the state Department of Correctional Services after the officer was arrested.
"(It is) a story without corroboration, without witnesses and without scientific evidence. We have her word and that's it," Kaminsky said during closing arguments Friday morning.
Assistant District Attorney Dan Schorr said the woman did not cry out during the incident because Brenyah, as a correction officer, had power over her and she feared that her sentence could be extended if she did not obey him.
"He had power and control over inmates," Schorr said. "He believed that meant he could do what he wants, whenever he wants to whomever he wants."
The woman was serving a three- to six-year sentence for selling crack to an undercover officer and had previously been involved in smuggling drugs onto Rikers Island so that they could be sold to inmates.
