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Jury Acquits Suspect In South Tampa Rape Case

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By TOM BRENNAN

tbrennan@tampatrib.com

Published: December 17, 2008

Updated: 12/17/2008 09:32 pm

Amos Busby

TAMPA - A jury has acquitted Amos Mequel Busby of charges he grabbed a woman off a South Tampa street and beat and raped her for three hours, even though DNA testimony linked him to the woman.

The jury deliberated for about three hours before acquitting Busby on all charges. He had been charged with kidnapping and seven counts of sexual battery from an incident that happened the morning of Aug. 11, 2005.

His visibly distraught accuser had to be comforted by prosecutors after the series of not guilty verdicts were announced. The woman's wailing could be clearly heard through the closed courtroom doors.

Her disbelief was echoed by friends and family waiting in the courthouse hall.

"The evidence was laid out on the table. How do you not convict him?" her brother said.

Jose Santacruz, a friend who testified today, expressed his disappointment.

"Justice hasn't been served," he said. "After everything, how could they do this?"

The five men and one woman who were jurors were quickly whisked down a back stairway and could not be reached for comment.

Busby and his attorneys quickly left the courtroom.

Defense attorney Joe Caimano defended the jury's decision.

"The verdict reflects was what the evidence showed," he said.

He said his client was "quiet, happy, very reserved – trying to take it all in."

Norma Borries, a crime lab analyst for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, had testified today Wednesday that she found Busby's DNA on semen collected from the victim and her clothes within hours of the attack.

Caimano argued the sex between his client and the victim was consensual.

"The only thing we know for sure is she and Mr. Busby had sex," he said in his closing argument.

The defense relied on testimony from William Robert Anderson, a pathologist and a former medical examiner in Orange and Sarasota counties.

Anderson admitted acknowledged the woman was covered in bruises, scratches and scrapes, but said there weren't sufficient injuries to her genitalia to support a conclusion she was raped.

"There is no evidence of sexual assault; there is evidence of a physical assault," Anderson said.

Jurors were given the option of convicting Busby of simple assault, but declined.

Borries said swabs collected from the woman and from her panties. The analyst said test showed the samples matched all 13 markers technicians use for making such DNA matches.

Prosecutor Rita Peters told jurors in her closing statement that the DNA was all they needed to convict Busby.

"That DNA told you what happened," she said.

Caimano pointed out a series of conflicting testimony that contradicted the woman's victim's version of events.

Some came from Santacruz on how his friend was stranded in the parking lot of Green Iguana Bar & Grill at 4029. S. West Shore Blvd.

The woman said she was grabbed from behind as she walked along South West Shore Boulevard, then choked and dragged to a secluded area near a pedestrian bridge. She said her attacker beat her and threatened to kill her if she did not comply.

She said her glasses were knocked off in the attack so she was unable to identify her assailant.

Caimano asked jurors not to be swayed by sympathy for the victim woman.

"The emotions that come out of her could pull your heart strings," he said.

Peters scoffed at Anderson's conclusion in her closing statement.

"She was violated in every way possible," she said.

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