SIOUX CITY — A judge has vacated a jury verdict in which a Sioux City man was found guilty of offering a 14-year-old girl $600 for sex, ruling there was not enough evidence presented at trial to show the man knew the girl was underage. District Judge Jeffrey Neary granted a defense motion for a judgment of acquittal, found Danny Beard not guilty of the charge of enticing away a minor and dismissed the case. A jury in August found Beard, 67, guilty at the conclusion of a two-day trial in Woodbury County District Court. Neary also said it was dark at the time Beard encountered the girl, who, the judge said, resembles her older sister who was living with their grandmother. The prosecution's evidence, Neary said, did little more than "raise suspicion, speculation and conjecture" that Beard would have reasonably known the girl was under age 16.

Source: CNN October 08, 2022 01:35 UTC