Thursday, July 5, 2007

Breaking News:Seattle Gambian Nurse accused of rape freed but........


By KOMO Staff

SEATTLE - A man who was accused of raping a paralyzed patient in her own hospital bed has been set free after a judge declared a mistrial due to a hung jury.

Four jurors said there just isn't enough evidence to convict Lamin Darboe of the crime.

One of the jurors told KOMO 4 News her gut feeling is Lamin Darboe is guilty, but based on the testimony and exhibits, she had to vote not guilty.

Prosecutors insisted Darboe, a nursing assistant at Kindred Hospital, raped his own patient in her hospital bed. A stroke left the 32-year-old woman paralyzed and unable to speak. Darboe was responsible for her daily care, including sponge baths.

While eight jurors said they would have found him guilty, four others could not be convinced - especially after the defense picked apart inconsistencies in the patient's testimony - and then alleged her medication caused hallucinations.

Those four say they felt the inconsistencies and a "lack of evidence" prevented them from reaching a unanimous decision. None of the jurors knew that this wasn't the first time Darboe was accused of a sex-related crime. The judge ruled his history inadmissible.

In 2001, Darboe was charged with rape in Snohomish County. The case was dismissed. In 2003, another rape accusation, but Darboe was acquitted. And in 2002, Swedish Medical fired him for allegedly inappropriately touching a patient.

"I wish I could have had the knowledge of his history," one juror said.

But defense attorney Gene Piculell said, "without question, the jury reached the right decision."

The prosecutor says she may bring Darboe to trial again.

"We respect the jury's decision in this," said Lisa Johnson from the prosecutor's office. "We're disappointed. They did have a lot of good points; we'll go back and think of the things they said and what they would have liked to heard more of."

The jury also didn't know that after Darboe was arrested, he fled the country to his native homeland of Gambia. A year later when he returned, he was arrested.

The prosecutor's office says they'll decide whether to retry Darboe in two weeks.

Meanwhile, here is another news report on Darboe's case. Please read on...


By TRACY JOHNSON
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Updated: 4:22 a.m. ET July 3, 2007

A King County jury could not agree Monday on whether a Seattle nursing assistant raped a mute and paralyzed stroke victim last year, leading to a mistrial. Prosecutors must now decide whether to retry Lamin Darboe, a 40-year-old man who has been accused -- but never convicted -- of rape and other sexual misconduct several other times in recent years.

Jury forewoman Stephanie Muth said jurors were split roughly 8-4 on three of the second-degree rape charges, with most leaning toward a guilty verdict. However, they voted 11-1 to find him not guilty of a fourth charge.

She said some jurors were troubled by inconsistencies in statements made by the alleged victim, a woman who cannot speak and gave her emotional testimony last week in writing.

"I thought that the victim's testimony was quite consistent, given her inability to communicate," said Muth, who said she voted to convict Darboe on all counts.

But other jurors didn't think there was enough evidence. At least one juror who voted to acquit Darboe was upset to learn afterward that it wasn't the first time he'd been accused.

"I didn't make the wrong decision based on the evidence, but it does hurt me to know that he has victimized before," said the juror, Linda, who declined to give her last name.

She said it also bothered her to see a smile spread across Darboe's face when Superior Court Judge Greg Canova declared a mistrial.

Darboe is accused of repeatedly raping and sexually abusing the patient at Kindred Hospital, a Northgate-area long-term care facility, in late June and early July of last year.

Prosecutors say the woman, then 31, was unable to resist or call for help. At the time, the mother of four could communicate only by moving her head. The allegations came to light when her friend asked her about Darboe and she began crying.

Darboe's attorney, Gene Piculell, said the woman has given conflicting accounts of what happened. He said the jurors were "obviously reasonable individuals, and they saw significant problems with the evidence."

The jury was troubled that the woman reported that a nurse interrupted one attack, yet that nurse was never found, Muth said.

Prosecutors plan to review the case and decide whether to bring a second trial against Darboe, said Deputy Prosecutor Lisa Johnson, who leads her office's Special Assault Unit.

"We certainly respect the jury's decision," she said. "It's disappointing that they didn't conclude, but we understand these cases are difficult."

In recent years, Darboe also was accused of sexually harassing two patients at Swedish Medical Center and sexually touching one.

Outside the hospital setting, he has been accused of raping two other women, although Snohomish County prosecutors didn't pursue charges in one case after Darboe said it was consensual. A jury acquitted him in the other case.

Darboe remains in King County Jail on $250,000 bail.


P-I reporter Tracy Johnson can be reached at 206-467-5942 or tracyjohnson@seattlepi.com.

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