Fargo
LUDINGTON — A jury found Evan Lee Fargo, 34, not guilty of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) following an eight-day trial in Mason County’s 51st Circuit Thursday, Feb. 19.
Fargo faced up to life in prison had he been convicted of first-degree CSC.
The case was prosecuted by the Michigan State Attorney General’s Office, and Oceana County Probate Judge Eric Fox presided over the trial.
“Two years after being accused of sexually assaulting two minors and eight days of trial, a Mason County jury took just over an hour to clear Evan Fargo, of Ludington, Mich., of all charges late Thursday evening,” said Fargo’s attorney Gary K. Springstead in a press release issued Friday, Feb. 20. “After hearing closing arguments and receiving jury instructions from the court until approximately 7:30 p.m. Thursday night, the jury told the court that they wanted to begin deliberating after they ate dinner. Just over an hour after beginning deliberations, the jury unanimously declared Mr. Fargo not guilty.”
Springstead said the case never should have been brought to trial. “This case never should have made it to trial in the first place, because we provided the attorney general’s office with the results of a polygraph examination that Evan clearly passed and demonstrated he was being falsely accused. The polygraph was administered by a well-respected polygraph examiner who was formerly employed as a polygrapher for the Michigan State Police and worked for MSP for over 25 years.
“But the attorney general’s office completely ignored this exculpatory evidence, just as they did the fact that both accusers had such serious credibility issues arising out of their former sworn testimony that the court had to advise them of their Fifth Amendment rights before they testified at trial. That is highly unusual in a criminal case. To make matters worse, the lead detective was advised of and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights after being confronted by the defense about lying under oath at the second preliminary examination — meaning he could not be called as a witness by either the prosecution or the defense at trial. Not being able to call the lead detective severely limited our ability to confront the government’s case and present our defense,” said the attorney.
“Because the prosecution looked the other way when confronted by numerous lies and almost unheard of legal issues, and would not deal with the reality of the case, we (pleaded) our case to an impartial jury and they quickly found Evan not guilty. We are thankful for the jury that didn’t look the other way and took its duties seriously.
“When these types of allegations are levied, they are devastating to the accused,” Springstead continued. “So we set out to prove that he didn’t do it and clear his name, and we did just that in the court system. But the effects of this case do not end after a not guilty verdict. Now the question is, ‘Where does Evan go to get his reputation back?’”
Fargo was also represented by Nicole E. Springstead-Stolte of SBBL Law. Mr. Springstead is a former FBI special agent and special assistant U.S. attorney.
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