Jury Finds St. Cloud Man Not Guilty of Sexual Assault Charges

(KNSI) – A St. Cloud man who faced years in prison after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman has been found not guilty.

A Stearns County jury acquitted 39-year-old Chibuzo Obinwanne Ikediego of first-degree and third-degree criminal sexual conduct last week.

In a statement, Ikediego’s attorneys, Patrick Casey and Zach Bahr of the Mankato law firm Knutson + Casey, said the verdicts reflect a central protection of the criminal justice system. They noted that prosecutors must prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and that a defendant is presumed innocent unless that burden is met.

Ikediego was charged in June after a woman told St. Cloud police she had been sexually assaulted overnight on May 7th. According to the criminal complaint, the woman said Ikediego came into her room, assaulted her and held her down after she told him to stop.

The complaint said surveillance video showed Ikediego entering and leaving the woman’s room four times between 12:07 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. It also said DNA testing by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension matched him to evidence collected during an exam at CentraCare-St. Cloud Hospital.

Ikediego denied having sexual intercourse with the woman and told investigators that a hug between them was consensual.

The first-degree charge carried a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The third-degree charge carried a maximum of 15 years.

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