http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110816/ARTICLES/110819618/1350?Title=Man-acquitted-of-charge-in-TV-sex-sting&tc=ar
Man acquitted of charge stemming from 2006 'To Catch a Predator' TV sex sting
Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 1:01 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 5:16 p.m.
He was kicked out of the Navy and spent time in jail.
Tuesday, five years after
appearing on NBC Dateline's “To Catch a Predator,” 26-year-old Joseph
Roisman of Watsonville was acquitted of charges of attempting to have
sex with an online decoy posing as a 13-year-old girl from Petaluma.
He is the only one of 29 men prosecuted in the 2006 sting to beat the rap.
“I’m
ready to move on with my life,” Roisman said outside the courtroom
following proceedings. “Hopefully the service will take me back,” he
said of his desire to continue his military career.
His
mother, Deborah Roisman of Watsonville, shouted, “Woo woo!” as Judge
Arthur Wick ordered the case thrown out after six days of trial
testimony, and later had harsh words for those involved in the TV show
that implicated her son.
She
said she and her pediatrician husband spent more than $100,000
defending their son. She vowed to sue NBC producers and called the sting
a “huge waste” of tax money.
“They made my son’s life a living hell for five years,” she said.
A Dateline spokeswoman, Amy Lynn, did not return a call seeking comment.
In
reaching his decision, Wick found prosecutors had not proven Roisman
had “specific intent” to commit the crime - attempting lewd acts with a
child under age 14.
He
also criticized the tactics used by Dateline’s partner, online watchdog
Perverted Justice, whom he suggested lacked credibility and engaged in
entrapment.
“The axiom, ‘Actions speak louder than words,’ clearly does not apply in this case,” Wick said from the bench.
Wick stopped the trial and issued the verdict without the defense team presenting its case and before consideration by the jury....
Turer argued it was Perverted
Justice officials who steered the conversation toward sex. Although
Roisman was told the girl’s age, he was doubtful because of her
mature-sounding voice and sophisticated talk, Turer said.
“This
case is the poster child for the abuse in this program,” Turer said
after the acquittal. “They took everything away from this kid just to
make a TV show.”....
Sonoma County jurors leaving the courthouse Tuesday said they were not
impressed by the Southern California-based group's methods. Windsor bank
teller Kathleen Kerckhoff said they obviously induced Roisman to act
the way he did. She said she would have found him not guilty if the case
had come to the jury.
“I don't have any respect for
Perverted Justice after this trial,” she said. “I think they do have
quotas. They have an agenda. It was the right resolution.”
In all, prosecutors obtained convictions on 27 defendants. Sentences ranged from probation to nine months in jail.
