A third jury trial will not be held for a Washington man that was charged with second-degree sexual abuse, a class B felony.

Forty-year-old Elmer Alberto Ramirez faced that charge and charges of lascivious acts with a child, a class C felony, indecent exposure and dissemination or exhibition of obscene material, both serious misdemeanors, and third-degree harassment, a simple misdemeanor. He was charged in March of 2020 and turned himself into authorities that April, and the first jury trial that was held for him a year later resulted in a hung jury. The court then dismissed the lascivious acts and indecent exposure charges before a second trial was held last month that resulted in another hung jury on the sexual abuse charge and acquittal for the dissemination offense.

As a result and to avoid further trauma to the victim, the Washington County Attorney’s Office agreed to allow Ramirez to plead guilty to the harassment charge, and a third trial is not expected for the felony sexual abuse. In December of 2019, a 10-year-old child disclosed to their principal they were sexually abused by Ramirez between 2014 and 2016 while the child was being babysat by Ramirez’s wife. In the prosecution of Ramirez testimony of his extramarital affairs and evidence of nearly 1,000 nude and pornographic images on his cell phone were considered too prejudicial. By law, prosecutors could not show the jury a video interview of the child at the Child Protection Center from December 2019 where the child discussed the sexual abuse to an expert in childhood trauma. Washington County Attorney John Gish remarks, “This child has more guts than a lot of the soldiers I have worked with. Testifying in trial is already stressful enough, so it would be unimaginable to talk about being sexually abused in front of your abuser and a room of strangers.”

Gish acknowledges the difficulty in prosecuting sexual abuse cases and says his office will continue to take on these cases because it is the right thing to do, but they cannot get justice on their own. It requires a jury to believe survivors of sexual abuse. KCII will bring you more information as it becomes official.