Jury finds man guilty of raping woman at work

LANCASTER – It took a Fairfield County jury about eight hours to return a largely guilty verdict in the sexual assault case involving two women and their male co-worker at a Baltimore factory.

After hearing three days of witness testimony, a jury found 40-year-old Lawrence Stinnett guilty of eight out of 10 felony charges levied against him, including rape.

The jury heard from both women claiming Stinnett had taken advantage of them in a back room of Green Gourmet Foods, about an hour apart from each other, on Sept. 10. Both victims said Stinnett had touched them inappropriately, but the first victim said Stinnett also had raped her by forcing her to perform oral sex.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jeffrey Hunter said the women's testimony helped them come to a guilty verdict. Stinnett was found guilty of two counts of rape and three counts of kidnapping, all first-degree felonies, as well as three counts of gross sexual imposition, fourth-degree felonies. However, Stinnett was acquitted on one kidnapping and gross sexual imposition charge.

Hunter and Assistant Prosecutor Zeo Lamberson were satisfied with the verdict despite Stinnett's acquittal of two charges.

"We feel ecstatic about the verdict," Hunter said. "It was a tough case."

Stinnett's attorney, Scott Wood, was displeased with the jury's verdict because of the prosecution's lack of evidence.

"The verdict is very disappointing and, quite frankly, pretty scary," Wood said. "It's scary that a prosecutor would prosecute and a jury from our community would convict on such weak and unbelievable evidence. We will be appealing the verdicts."

Throughout the trial, Wood pointed out to the jury that there is no physical evidence that an assault occurred and that the sexual acts were actually consensual.

The jury did not hear from Stinnett himself, but they did listen to an hourlong video recording Stinnett completed with police after his arrest. In that interview, eventually, Stinnett admitted that the sex acts had occurred and matched the victim's statements completely. The only exception was that he said the acts were consensual.

Stinnett opted to be sentenced by Fairfield County Judge Richard E. Berens at a later date.

Hunter said it's difficult to tell what kind of prison time Stinnett is facing because some counts might merge together for sentencing purposes.

"It's a substantial amount of time," Hunter said. "It's in excess of 20, 30 or 40 years."

sroush@lancastereaglegazette.com

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Twitter: @SpencerRoushLEG