Former TV Reporter Acquitted of Child Sex Charges

[UbiDubi]

A federal jury today acquitted retired LAPD sergeant-turned-TV-reporter Rod Bernsen of charges that he inappropriately touched two 12-year-old boys while in the spa area of a cruise ship to Mexico last fall.

 

Bernsen had been charged with two counts of abusive sexual contact with a minor stemming from his interactions with the cousins aboard the Diamond Princess on a cruise to Mexico last fall. Prosecutors allege Bernsen spanked the bare bottom of one of the boys and touched the other boy's penis with his toe.

 

During closing arguments Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Donahue told the jury that the two boys, who are cousins, would not have made up such an account.

 

"If they wanted to get back at him for some reason, there are a lot of things that would have been a lot easier," Donahue said.

 

But Bernsen's attorney, James Epstein, told jurors that they should doubt whether the boys are telling the truth. Epstein said the boys' "possible motives" include that they may have been told by a ship employee that they needed to leave the spa area, where rules forbid children under the age of 16, and that they may have thought Bernsen reported them.

 

During their testimony last week, the boys also told jurors that Bernsen talked to them about erections and puberty.

 

Bernsen adamantly denied that he ever touched them or made sexual remarks and testified that he was devastated by the allegations against him. "Just the accusation on its face is disgusting," he said.

 

Bernsen, who now lives in Colorado, was on the cruise with his wife and sister to celebrate the sister's 60th birthday.

 

He launched a broadcast career following his service in the LAPD, where he was once a spokesman. He was a law enforcement specialist for Fox11 until 2004, working some of that time as a helicopter reporter, and from late 2005 until May 2006 filled in as a talk-radio host on KFI-AM.

 

Through last year, he provided commentary on car chases for CNN's Headline News, he told the jury.

 

Bernsen was arrested Oct. 7, and freed on $850,000 bail. Copyright © 2007, KTLA

[ArizonaRalphie]

O.J. is not guilty.

[Druke I]

I've heard him giving commentary on several police chases, and he does a very good job explaining what law enforcement is doing, narrating in terms that a layman can understand.

[bubbadog]

i think everyone should do a lie detector test,that may shine some light on this:))):rolleyes: :p

[derf5585]

i think everyone should do a lie detector test,that may shine some light on this:))):rolleyes: :p

 

How to Cheat a Polygraph Test (Lie Detector)

from

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POLYGRAPH "testing" has no scientific basis: it's entirely dependent on your ignorance and fear

from

http://antipolygraph.org/pubs.shtml