A second jury trial for a Washington man resulted in the acquittal of one of his charges.

Court records show that after a four-day trial, the jury found 40-year-old Elmer Alberto Ramirez not guilty of disseminating or exhibiting obscene material to a minor, a serious misdemeanor, and was unable to reach a verdict on a class B felony charge of second-degree sexual abuse.

The charges stemmed from incidents that were alleged to occur in January 2014. The court had dismissed charges of lascivious acts with a child, a class C felony, and indecent exposure, a serious misdemeanor, after the first trial of Ramirez resulted in a hung jury this March. Ramirez had an active arrest warrant when he turned himself into authorities in April 2020, after a report of sexual assault was made in December 2019.

The case must be retried within 90 days if the state decides to do so. Washington County Attorney John Gish comments on the trial conclusion that, “It is traumatic for a victim to testify in front of their abuser, especially when the victim is a child.” His office is weighing all options in moving forward with this case.