Jury clears man of assault charges

Despite glaring conflicts in the testimony of defense witnesses, a Schuylkill County jury on Monday found a Coaldale man not guilty of aggravated sexual assault, indecent assault and simple assault.

Travis K. Christman, 26, was charged by Tamaqua police after allegedly assaulting the mother of one of his children in the early morning hours of Jan. 22, 2017.

The jury, after hearing about two-and-a-half hours of testimony, deliberated for more than three hours before reaching a verdict.

Christman darted from the courtroom after the verdict; his accuser sobbed, and outside the courtroom, vomited as she was comforted by supporters.

The incident

The trial, before President Judge William E. Baldwin, began with two witnesses called by Senior Deputy Attorney General Nathan L. Boob, who prosecuted the case.

The first witness was the woman Christman was charged with assaulting.

She told the jury she had spoken with Christman several times in the hours preceding the assault.

He called her 10 times between 1:33 a.m. and 1:48 a.m., the last call being 14 minutes long.

She said Christman came to her house and when she went out onto the front porch to speak with him, he grabbed her and began kissing her as she tried to go back inside. She pulled away, but he grabbed her by the throat and sexually assaulted her.

The second witness was Tamaqua Cpl. Henry D. Woods, who testified that the woman came to the police station at about 3:20 a.m. Jan. 22 to report the crime. She had with her a necklace she said had come off from Christman’s neck as the two scuffled.

Woods said he interviewed Christman on Feb. 8, 2017. Christman denied the assault, and said the necklace was not his.

He also denied contacting the woman after 1 a.m. that morning.

Woods produced telephone records proving that he had called her 10 times after 1 a.m., including the call that lasted 14 minutes.

The denial

Christman’s lawyer, Public Defender Kent D. Watkins, called his client, who testified he never left his girlfriend’s mother’s house at on Hunter Street. His girlfriend was watching her 3-year-old sister while her mother was at work. The girlfriend’s teenage brother was also there, and a 22-year-old woman.

Christman said the woman was the mother of one of his children, who he had not seen since Thanksgiving 2016.

He said she had “joined up with” the mother of his daughter to spread rumors that he did drugs and beat the children’s mothers, so he spread the same rumors about her.

Christman said the woman called him at 1 a.m. to come see his son in the company of a mutual friend.

He said no, because he didn’t trust her.

He admitted to having called the woman 10 times after that.

“I called her until she answered,” he testified.

Christman, under cross-examination, denied being angry with the woman, who he said was trying to keep him from his child.

Christman also denied telling Woods he didn’t contact the woman after 1 a.m.

“Are you saying he lied?” Boob asked.

“Correct,” Christman said.

Boob called Woods back to the stand.

Woods confirmed Christman said he didn’t contact the woman after 1 a.m.

Christman also lied to him about his employment status, and about the time he arrived at his girlfriend’s house on Jan. 21, Woods said.

Watkins also called Christman’s girlfriend, who is pregnant with his child, and her mother.

His girlfriend, Symone M. Berezwick, 21, testified under oath that Christman was with her at her mother’s house all day Jan. 21 and all night. She testified that she and Christman fell asleep in her room at 4 a.m. Jan. 22.

That account differed from that of Berezwick’s mother, Patricia E. Brode, 43, who testified under oath that she came home from work at about 2 a.m. Jan. 22 and saw her daughter and Christman in the kitchen and on the living room couch until she went to sleep at about 5:30 a.m.

Closing arguments

“They weren’t smart enough to match their lies up,” Boob said in his closing argument.

He referred to Berezwick’s and Brode’s testimony.

Boob also said Berezwick’s testimony was “suspect” in that she told police Christman was working during the week when he was, in fact, unemployed.

Watkins cautioned jurors in his closing argument that they must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt before convicting Christman of any crimes.

He said Christman voluntarily went to the police station when he learned they wanted to talk to him, that no surveillance cameras picked up Christman when he allegedly walked across town to the victim’s house and assaulted her at about 2:15 a.m. Jan. 22.

Further, he said, an hour passed between the time of the assault and the victim’s appearance at the borough police station.

“What did she do for an hour?” he said.

She didn’t tell anyone of the alleged assault, he said, and claimed she didn’t know of a child custody contempt hearing involving Christman and herself that was scheduled for a few days after the alleged assault.

Watkins said no medical reports were presented.

“There is no corroborating evidence or witnesses,” Watkins told the jurors.

The jury returned verdicts of not guilty of felony charges of aggravated indecent assault without consent and aggravated indecent assault-forcible compulsion and misdemeanor charges of indecent assault and simple assault.

On April 13, 2017, Woods charged Christman with felony charges of aggravated indecent assault without consent and aggravated indecent assault-forcible compulsion, as well as misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, unlawful restraint and simple assault.

Some of the charges were consolidated before the trial.