Jury finds former cop guilty in teen’s assault

A jury on Friday found a former California cop guilty of sexually assaulting a teenager.

Shawn Shelton, 40, faces a potential life sentence as a result of the jury verdict, reached after about two hours of deliberations.

Shelton was found guilty of first-degree kidnapping and sexual assault on a minor for taking the boy on May 21 from a bus stop outside the Boulevard Mall on Maryland Parkway and sexually assaulting him.

Shelton also was found guilty of battery with intent to commit sexual assault on a minor and use of a minor in the production of pornography, after the boy testified that Shelton slammed his head against his skateboard and took Polaroid pictures of him forcing himself on the boy.

"His testimony alone is enough to find the defendant guilty," prosecutor Joshua Tomsheck said.

Defense attorney Carmine Colucci said an appeal is planned.

"There were some counts I thought we had a real strong chance of getting a verdict in our favor," he said.

The jury did acquit him of a robbery charge.

The teenager, now 15, took the stand Wednesday and identified Shelton as the man who flashed a badge to convince him to get into a Hummer SUV.

The man told the boy he was investigating a homicide, handcuffed him, drove him to a desert location and placed him in the back seat of the SUV. The teenager testified Shelton forced him to perform oral sex.

Colucci tried to dismiss most of those charges, saying prosecutors did not have the evidence to prove them.

The boy remembered key details, like the defendant's .50 caliber bullet on his key chain and the brand of cigarettes he smoked, which police found in Shelton's vehicle when they arrested him May 26.

But in addition to recalling details, the teenager did something else remarkable, Tomsheck said.

He wiped his mouth with his T-shirt, sealing Shelton's DNA in the fibers of the cloth, which investigators matched to Shelton.

Colucci disputed that in his closing arguments.

"DNA is not infallible and it is not perfect," he said in an attempt to address the sexual assault charge against Shelton.

Earlier in the day he had planned to put Shelton on the witness stand to testify that the unprotected oral sex that took place between Shelton and the boy was consensual.

He said Shelton would have said the two met at the mall and the boy got into Shelton's vehicle, willingly.

"At some point during the ride they agreed to have sexual contact," he said.

Then, Shelton dropped him off near his home.

But the jury never got to hear that story.

District Judge Michelle Leavitt ruled that if a defense of consensual sex was raised, prosecutors could cross examine Shelton about whether protection was discussed prior to engaging in sexual activity.

Shelton has HIV, a fact of which jurors are unaware because of a ruling the judge had previously made.

"Bodily fluids are going to be excreted and you don't tell them you're HIV-positive? That goes to consent," Leavitt said.

"To believe that anyone would say OK, go ahead, knowing what we know about it (AIDS)," she said, was seemingly incredulous.