After nearly five hours of deliberations Thursday evening, a Westmoreland County jury found a Latrobe man not guilty on charges that he raped an 8-year-old girl several times over a 13-month period years ago.
Joseph Troy Keslar, 25, testified that accusations were false that he sexually assaulted a then 8-year-old girl five times from December 2004 to January 2006 and then threatened to kill her and her parents if she spoke of the incidents. Keslar, who faced six sexual assault-related charges, was found not guilty on all counts.
"No, I never touched her, I am 100 percent certain," Keslar testified. "I have never laid hands upon a woman, I've never forced myself on a woman."
The accuser testified Wednesday that she told a family member about the sexual assaults in 2007.
Trooper James McKenzie of state police at Greensburg testified that the family member stated in a December 2010 interview that she called Keslar a few months after her conversation with the accuser to ask him about the allegations, and he became angry.
Keslar said no such conversation ever took place.
"(Keslar) got angry, said it wasn't true and said to tell (the accuser) to keep her (expletive) mouth shut or he'd kill her and her parents," McKenzie said.
The accuser, now 14, said the assaults started in December 2004 when Keslar was19.
"I was never alone with (the accuser)," Keslar said.
Keslar's brother, Jonathan Keslar, testified that Keslar and the accuser could never have been alone together because of the strict nature of the accuser's parents.
"From what I saw and what I witnessed, (the accuser's mother) was around at all times," Jonathan Keslar said.
A few months after the alleged assaults took place, Keslar called the accuser's family and left a message, which he admitted was profanity-laced.
"At the end of the message, I told (the accuser) to 'be careful and watch your back,'" Keslar said, noting that he was telling her to watch out for her parents.
The jury's verdict surprised Assistant District Attorney John Petrush.
"I'm very disappointed," he said. "I felt that the evidence was beyond sufficient to prove (Keslar) guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
