Carnival worker found not guilty of Carpentersville rape
A Tennessee man who was part of a traveling carnival was found not guilty of raping a co-worker in Carpentersville in May 2013.
A jury took less than an hour late Tuesday to find Detrick Grady, 35, not guilty of aggravated criminal sexual assault by force, a charge that carried a top prison term of 30 years.
“I told you I didn't do it,” Grady said to his mother on a cellphone after the verdict late Tuesday afternoon.
Grady was accused of raping a fellow carnival worker after the Indiana-based North American Midway Entertainment stopped at the Meadowdale Shopping Center in 2013.
According to police, Grady invited a 23-year-old female into his trailer after she asked him to borrow a videotape.
Grady was accused of forcing himself on her when she tried to leave and told him to stop, according to police and court records.
But a jury didn't see it that way during a two-day trial this week before Judge Susan Clancy Boles.
Jillian Weiss, Kane County assistant public defender, did not immediately return a phone message Wednesday.
Prosecutors declined to comment.
As a result of the charges, Grady was terminated from his position at the carnival. At the time of Grady's arrest, a carnival manager said Grady passed criminal background checks and a drug test before he was hired.
Grady had been free after posting $7,000 bond.