Jury Hears Closing Arguments In Josh Carrier Trial
The fate of ex-police officer Joshua Carrier is now in the hands of jurors. After more than three weeks of testimony, the jury in Carrier’s child sex abuse trial heard closing arguments Tuesday.
“He fooled them all,” began prosecutor Andy Bryant.
Bryant took about 40 minutes to summarize the two and a half weeks of testimony and evidence presented by the prosecution. He talked about the images of child pornography and 11 erotic short stories involving kids found on Carrier’s computer; the testimony from 22 boys from Horace Mann Middle School who said Carrier touched their genitals during medical exams and drug searches; and the webcam videos Carrier made of some of those exams that show boys down to their underwear and nude.
Carrier claimed he made the videos of the exams to protect himself, but Bryant asked the jury, if that was the case, why the recordings had been deleted (police reconstructed thousands of images for the case).
“Probably because he was done masturbating to them,” said Bryant.
Carrier told the court Tuesday morning that he would not take the stand, but his defense attorney read a statement, apparently from Carrier, during closing statements.
“My name is Josh Carrier, and I come from a good family,” read attorney Chris Decker.
The statement went on to say, “You can bet, I’ve made some mistakes,” but denied the most serious allegations against him, one from a boy who claimed Carrier tried to get him aroused, another from a boy who said Carrier tried to masturbate him, and another from a student who said Carrier put a finger in his anus.
“For the most part, what the other kids said was true,” read Decker.
But he went on to say that what happened was not due to a sexual interest in children.
Decker reminded jurors that touching a child’s genitals, in itself, is not a crime, that there has to be sexual intent.
“You can’t convict Josh Carrier because what he did was misguided or stupid,” said Decker.
In rebuttal arguments, prosecutor Amy Fitch told jurors, “The defense wants you to remember Josh Carrier came from a nice family, but I want you to remember something more important, he was a cop for crying out loud! He was a business man!”
Fitch’s voice was filled with emotion as she told the jury that Carrier knew what he was doing was wrong.
The jury is now considering more than 200 counts against Carrier. He faces life in prison if convicted.
