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Robert Moser didn't take the stand in his own defense during the trial against him in Kosciusko Circuit Court.
He didn't have to - not just by law, but because his testimony wasn't necessary for a jury to acquit him of the charge he faced.
The three-man, nine-woman jury deliberated about three hours Tuesday evening before rendering its verdict of not guilty.
Moser, 24, was accused of battery causing serious bodily injury, a Class C felony and could have gone to prison for up to eight years. During two days of testimony, the victim in the case told jurors that she lied about Moser being her assailant because she was mad at him at the time.
Tohnya Miner, 27, told police, family and a neighbor on March 11 that Moser beat her with a bed post - an attack that left her with a punctured lung (which Dr. Mark Jensen, who treated Miner, classified as a life-threatening injury), several broken ribs, two fractured and one broken vertebrae and multiple bruises.
However, in testimony during the two-day trial, Miner repeatedly said she lied about Moser beating her and that she was, in fact, attacked by an unknown Hispanic male who came to her residence to collect on an unpaid cocaine debt. Miner testified that she had a $500- to $600-a-week drug habit and that she was getting drugs from several sources.
Moser reportedly came to Miner's house after she was beaten, questioned her about what happened and became angry with her because she had not allowed him to help her with her drug problem.
The two began to argue and Miner said she started cussing at Moser and thrashing at him, striking him with an object that she later learned was the bed post. Moser was able to take the post from Miner, testimony revealed, and Moser also struck her to try to stop her from attacking him.
"He hit her, but he didn't beat her," defense attorney Richard Thonert told the jury during his closing statement, alleging Moser acted in self-defense. He contends that the neighbor to whose house Miner ran after the incident didn't listen to Moser and threw him out before he could explain the circumstances.
Al Palmer testified that he asked Moser if he hit Miner and that Moser said, "Yes, but let me explain." Thonert said that Palmer - Miner's neighbor and landlord - "didn't want to hear any more and threw him out." He said Miner took advantage of the situation by making Moser her easy out because she was afraid she would be arrested for her cocaine use if she didn't blame him for her injuries. She said she was on probation and risked going to prison and losing her children if she was caught using drugs.
Thonert said Miner came into the court and said, "I'm a liar. I accused him because I didn't want to go to jail." He also said Miner wasn't "just coming forward now," and cited letters sent to Kosciusko County Prosecutor Charles Waggoner in May and to himself in June as pleas for the charges to be dropped because the information she previously provided was false.
Waggoner argued that there was no Hispanic male and that Miner made that up to prevent the father of her 2-year-old daughter and unborn baby from going to prison. He said the letters didn't materialize until after Miner had been threatened by Moser and his mother regarding custody of the couple's daughter. Since that time, Miner moved in with Moser's family.
Waggoner also focused on Moser's bloody nose, which he had when he went to talk to Pierceton Police Department Deputy Marshal Jeff Larson, but which Palmer and Miner testified they didn't see before Miner was taken to the hospital. Waggoner said Moser created the injury as a cover for his story that he only struck Miner in self-defense.
Both Larson and Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department Deputy Matt Rapp told jurors they saw blood under Moser's nose on March 11. Rapp's description of the blood as noticeable, but appearing to have been wiped off somewhat, gave Thonert an opportunity to infer in his closing statement that Moser wasn't using the injury to manipulate his story or he wouldn't have cleaned it up before going to police.
Miner was called as both a state and defense witness in the case and continually testified that everything she said prior to her appearance in court was lies and that her testimony was the truth.
Also testifying for the state was Jennifer Scott, Miner's cousin with whom she lived briefly after her release from the hospital. Miner called Scott the day of the attack and asked her to meet her at the hospital.
Other defense witnesses included Jan Moser Schumacher, the defendant's mother.
