Attorney Working To Get Former Restaurant Owner Out On Bond, DA Plans To Re-Try Case
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The attorney for the former restaurant owner who was on trial on charges of sexual assault is filing paperwork to get him released from jail.
Jurors reached a split verdict in the trial of Adnan Pehlivan on Wednesday.
Pehlivan was found not guilty of simple assault and stalking, but the jury was deadlocked on the charges of sexual assault and burglary charges.
"The fact that this jury could not make a verdict on four of the charges and found him not guilty of two, that that presumption is no longer there and that my client is entitled to bond," defense attorney Lee Rothman said.
Rothman claims there's no longer a presumption that Pehlivan's a danger to the community, but he remains in the county jail.
His attorney says there should be no concerns that Pehlivan could flee to his native home in Turkey.
"His passport was relinquished, when he was arrested over nine months ago, to the pretrial services unit. There are a variety of conditions that the judge can place on him to ensure that he remain in this area," Rothman said.
Meanwhile, attorneys are considering what Wednesday's split verdict means. The Post-Gazette reports jurors were split 6-6 on the sexual assault charge.
"What that tells me is the commonwealth did not have a mountain of evidence and again, these cases, I'd be very interested to know whether this was a split on gender," Rothman said.
Jurors aren't talking, but the jury consisted of eight men and four women.
Prosecutors say Pehlivan allegedly followed a group of women home after he met them at Kopy's Bar on the South Side. They alleged he broke through the woman's window and sexually assaulted her.
But the defense claims the woman invited Pehlivan to her home after meeting him at the bar, but didn't want her friends to know she had done so.
Pehlivan's attorney is working to get him released on bond.
In the meantime, the Allegheny District Attorney's Office tells KDKA it plans to re-try Pehlivan on the sexual assault and burglary charges.