BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
For the second time this year, former Harrison Police Chief Thomas Keenan will not get the vindication he has sought since he was charged with rape last year.
But as he pointed out Wednesday after his trial ended with a deadlocked jury, he also will not be going to jail.
"It beats being convicted," Mr. Keenan said. "But it doesn't equal being found not guilty."
Judge Steven Martin of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court declared a mistrial in the case when the 12 jurors notified him that they were unable to reach a verdict.
A different jury had the same problem in June when it also told the judge it was hopelessly deadlocked.
The decision disappointed attorneys on both sides of the case and raised questions about whether prosecutors will try to take Mr. Keenan to court a third time. The judge scheduled a Nov. 10 hearing to discuss the next step.
Prosecutor Joseph Deters will have until then to decide whether another trial is the right move. "I'll have to review it," he said. "I don't know what we're going to do yet."
The judge also has the authority to dismiss the case, but Judge Martin would not discuss his options Wednesday. The jurors, who had deliberated for 13 hours over three days, also declined to comment. Mr. Keenan is charged with rape and gross sexual imposition for allegedly groping and fondling a female clerk at the city's police station. Prosecutors say he also used his position of authority to force the clerk to write him sexually explicit love letters. Defense attorneys, however, have argued that his accuser is an emotionally unstable woman who voluntarily wrote the letters because she is obsessed with the former chief.
During both trials, defense attorneys showed jurors the letters and a variety of gifts the woman had given him.
They said Mr. Keenan's political enemies talked the woman into seeking charges because they wanted to discredit him.
One of his attorneys, Firooz Namei, said he and his client were disappointed that the jury did not return with a not guilty verdict. He described the prosecutors as "overzealous" and said he was optimistic they would not seek a third trial.
"I really don't think they will try him again," he said.
