BROOKSVILLE - Two teenage Central High School boys were found not guilty in juvenile court last week of sexual battery of a 17-year-old girl.
Judge Jack Springstead found Spencer Paulsen and Justin Lewis, both 17, not guilty of the charges after a seven-hour trial held Oct. 4, said defense attorney Jeff Cario of Brooksville.
The charge was sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, a first-degree felony.
Paulsen, of 10056 Twelve Oaks Court, Brooksville, and Lewis, of 5144 Abagail Drive, Spring Hill, were arrested on July 14 and accused of having sexual relations with a girl who had been intoxicated earlier that morning.
A third suspect, George Wright, 18, of 4050 Casa Court, Hernando Beach, also was charged in the incident. He is scheduled for trial on the same sexual battery charge in November.
Allegedly, the girl, whose identity is being withheld because of the nature of the charges, had been intoxicated when she had sex with Paulsen, Lewis and Wright early July 14.
The sheriff and state attorney's office had said teenage boys forced her to have sex with them.
The encounter began at 11 p.m. Tuesday, July 13, when the girl, having spent the night with a friend for her birthday, decided to visit Lewis' Abagail Drive home, a sheriff's report said.
As the evening continued, the girl found herself cornered by the three teens, who allegedly closed the door behind them, told her to relax and refused to allow her to leave, the report stated.
The girl left about 5:30 a.m. on July 14 and met 55-year-old construction worker Herman Gay, who offered her a ride home in the rain. She told him she had been raped, and Gay reported the incident.
However, one reason why the juvenile teenagers were found not guilty, Cario said, is because the girl gave several different accounts of the night to different authorities as well as during the trial. He also said there was no physical evidence to suggest criminal violence had occurred.
Paulsen, Lewis and Wright admitted to having sex with the girl, but the three had said it was consensual.
"Her statements were inconsistent," Cario said. "From the beginning it was a consensual encounter."
Records on such juvenile cases are sealed from the public, however Paulsen's father requested his private attorney to release a copy of the verdict to the Times.
Judge Springstead declined to comment on the case because Wright's case is pending.
