Jury returns split verdict in sex assault trial of former Temple University frat president Ari Goldstein

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Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Jury returns split verdict in trial of fmr. Temple University frat president
A jury returned a split verdict on Tuesday in the sex assault trial of a former Temple University fraternity president.

PHILADELPHIA -- The former president of a Temple University fraternity has been convicted in an attempted sexual assault case but acquitted of sex assault charges in another case.



Jurors convicted 23-year-old Ari Goldstein of attempted sexual assault and indecent assault of a woman who was a freshman at the north Philadelphia university in February 2018.



But jurors acquitted the Wrightstown resident of sexual assault and indecent assault of a woman in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house in November 2017.



Jurors deliberated for about two hours Friday and resumed deliberations Tuesday morning. Goldstein, who did not visibly react to the split verdict, was taken into custody pending a sentencing hearing in May.



Defense attorney Perry de Marco Sr. argued that the encounters were consensual and one of the women had engaged in a "sustained" sexual relationship with his client.



Assistant District Attorney Zachary Wynkoop argued that the two women were "unwavering" in their accounts over the last two years.



Temple suspended the fraternity in April 2018 after at least three women alleged sexual assaults.

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