Trending
A Jamestown man who had been facing life in prison on child sexual assault charges was acquitted of all counts Thursday by a Chautauqua County jury.
Jonathan Negron-Rosario, 35, was found not guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. The city man was represented at trial by Ned Barone, Chautauqua County public defender, while Jason Schmidt, district attorney, prosecuted the case.
The charges were the result of sexual abuse alleged to have occurred in Jamestown between Feb. 2 and March 1 in 2019 involving a 12-year-old victim. The juvenile came forward about two and a half years after the alleged abuse.
Negron-Rosario was indicted in October 2022.
The case went to the jury on Wednesday and returned with an acquittal on Thursday.
"I am deeply saddened and disappointed by the verdict," Schmidt told The Post-Journal. "I put everything I had into this case and take this acquittal personally hard. Child sexual assaults are the type of horrendous crimes which are perpetrated against the most vulnerable members of our community behind closed doors where the only witnesses are the offender and victim.
"They're not captured on camera, and because most times they're not even reported until years later, it's impossible to develop any corroborating evidence, leaving us with only one person's word against another's."
Barone, also speaking to The Post-Journal, said Negron-Rosario maintained his innocence throughout the case. He noted that a conviction on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault against a child, can result in a life sentence.
"He maintained from the beginning that he never committed these crimes, but they still dragged him through the system," Barone said after Thursday's acquittal. "He's sat in jail for almost a year waiting for his day in court. Thank God we had 12 good people on that jury."
Barone acknowledged the difficulties in handling any case in which a child is assaulted. He thanked the jury for being open to hearing the evidence during the trial, which began last week in Chautauqua County Court before Judge David Foley.
"It wasn't so much what they heard or saw with the evidence," Barone began, "but the lack of evidence that they acquitted my client."
Schmidt recognized Barone and his team for the "fine work they did" in the case.
"It's not an easy job -- many times it's a thankless job -- defending the rights of anyone accused of a crime," he said. "Sometimes the very nature of certain allegations, without knowing anything more, lead people to assume guilt and that is not at all how our system of justice should ever work. So for this case and all those which fly under the radar, Mr. Barone, his Public Defender Office and the entire defense bar here in Chautauqua County deserve our praise for a job well done."
The DA also commented to the victims of sexual assault.
"Please do not be so discouraged that you don't come forward to report the abuse committed against you," he said. "Perpetrators of these crimes do not commit one-off events; they are generally repeat offenders and it's the responsibility of each and every one of us to do our part to hold these people accountable. I will keep fighting and continue to try my very best to put victims first and to hold criminals accountable."