Judge Overturns Bartow County Child Molestation Verdict

CARTERSVILLE, GA - A judge overturned a jury's guilty verdict in a child molestation case this week in Bartow County.

Bernardo Castillo-Martinez, of Cartersville, was found guilty of one count of child molestation last December. At his sentencing Tuesday Judge D. Scott Smith said he couldn't in good conscience sentence him.

“I have never labored over a case and a verdict more than I have this one,” Judge Smith said, according to the Daily Tribune New.

“This court sat as the 13th juror in this case and listened to this evidence and I cannot bring myself in good conscience to render punishment upon this gentleman based upon the evidence that was introduced and produced in this courtroom.”

Castillo-Martinez allegedly touched the genital area of a 4-year-old child with “an unknown solid object” sometime between Oct. 31, 2017 and May 9, 2018.

Smith listed numerous instances of what he believes to be “clear and reasonable doubt” surrounding the case.

First and foremost, he said, was the testimony provided by the alleged victim in the case.

“The first forensic interview was vague, to say the least,” he said. “After an extensive interview, this child named her older brother as the person who had touched her.”

For more go here.