CASTLE ROCK — Former Denver Broncos cornerback Perrish Cox has been found not-guilty on two counts of sexual assault.
The jury deliberated for four hours on Thursday and just over two hours today.
As the verdict was read Douglas County District Court Cox hugged his defense attorney Harvey Steinberg.
“There are no winners and no losers in this situation,” Steinberg said after the verdict. “We just hope everyone can get on with their lives.”
Cox’s alleged victim began sobbing and stomping her feet after the verdict was read. She was quickly ushered from the courtroom by her family. As she left the courtroom, she said “why did this happen to me.”
Outside the courtroom Cox said he felt “great” about the outcome of the week-long trial.
He sighed in relief as he walked down the stairs from the courtroom and said “I’m grateful for all of my supporters,” he said.
In Twitter messages later, Cox wrote “The feeling i have right now can never b felt, cant b explained, the lord has his ways of work, glad i was able 2 b in the path of that!!” In another, he wrote “Harvey stienberg is the greatest lawyer on earth, hands down, there is no other better as i recall, all else is obselete!!”
Steinberg said Cox, who was released by the Broncos before the season began last fall, was “scared to death” about what could have happened in the jury room.
Cox was charged with one count of sexually assault on a helpless victim and one count of sex assault of a victim incapable of appraising conduct. Had he been convicted, Cox would have faced two years to life in prison.
“We always felt there were substantial holes in the prosecution case,” Steinberg said.
Prosecutor Chris Gallo said said the district attorney’s office appreciated the jury’s work. “Obviously we believed in this case,” he said. “But the jury took their time and we really appreciate it.
“What goes on in a jury room, for very good reason, nobody ever knows.”
The case stems from an incident over Labor Day weekend 2010 at Cox’s Lone Tree apartment.
The woman told police that she believed she was sexually assaulted by Cox after she passed out on an air mattress in his apartment.
The woman became pregnant and Cox’s DNA was found in the fetal tissue. A test determined the woman became pregnant at about the time of the alleged attack.
Beyond the DNA, prosecutors had little direct evidence linking Cox to the alleged sexual assault.
There were no witnesses to the alleged attack. The alleged victim did not have a rape kit done at a hospital. There were no tests performed to confirm her suspicions that she might have been drugged that night as she has no recollection of what happened.
During closing statements Thursday, Steinberg criticized the investigation by Lone Tree police and called the alleged victim a “party girl” who drinks a lot.
He pointed to testimony by Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, who was kissing and touching the woman that night but said he left either after she passed out or fell asleep. Thomas testified that Cox’s then-roommate, Broncos defensive back Cassius Vaughn, told him that Thomas missed some “girl-on-girl” action that night between the alleged victim and her friend, whom Cox was dating.
“Did Mr. Cox watch? Did he participate?” Steinberg asked the jury.
It was the first time Cox’s defense had even hinted that the sexual assault might have been consensual contact, although it would have been hard to explain Cox’s DNA otherwise.
“There may be a long line of distinguished and undistinguished individuals who did the same,” Steinberg said. “But that doesn’t make them rapists.”
