Today on Friday April 30th, AC (Raymond Merchant) triumphed over the state's futile attempts to paint him as an armed robber. He was facing three charges--aggravated robbery in the 1st degree, attempted aggravated robbery in the 1st degree, and assault in the 2nd degree as a result of being falsely implicated in a robbery that occurred last October. After only two hours of deliberation, the first hour of which was over lunch, the jury reached a consensus verdict of not guilty on all three counts.

This was an immense victory, the result of a tremendous collaboration of legal and grunt work, excellent courtroom performance, and too little sleep. As his attorney Robert Kolstad stated this afternoon, “It was brutally apparent from the beginning that Raymond was innocent of these crimes, but we were constantly aware of horrifying reality that he might actually be found guilty in this trial. It is a huge relief to all of us that he has finally been vindicated.” Raymond was facing a potential 41 months for what would have been a first time offense.