PHILADELPHIA _ A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday delivered a split verdict in the sexual assault trial of the former president of Temple University's Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, convicting him of attempting to sexually assault one woman in his bedroom, but clearing him of allegations that he had forced himself on another.
Jurors reached their decision after about six hours of deliberations over two days.
Ari Goldstein, 23, did not visibly react as jurors on the panel of eight women and four men each said they agreed with the ruling. He was placed in handcuffs and taken immediately into custody until a sentencing hearing in May. He had been out on bail since last year.
Goldstein, of Wrightstown, had been accused of using physical force to try to push two women into sex acts after they told him no. The Inquirer does not identify victims of sexual assault without their permission.
One woman testified that when she was a Temple freshman in February 2018, a Goldstein attempted to force her into a sex act against her will before she managed to leave his room. For that, Goldstein was convicted of attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, attempted sexual assault and indecent assault.
Another woman testified that she and Goldstein were having consensual sex in his room in November 2017, when she was a Temple junior, but that she told him to stop when he pressed his arm on her collarbone and put his fingers down her throat. She testified that Goldstein then asked her to perform oral sex on him, and forced her to do so even as she said no.
Jurors decided that Goldstein's conduct in that encounter did not amount to a crime.
On Tuesday, the two women sat together in the front row holding hands and hugging as the verdict was read.
Assistant District Attorney Zachary Wynkoop told jurors during his closing argument Friday that the women were clear and consistent in telling Goldstein to stop.
Goldstein's lawyer, Perry de Marco Sr., contended that the actions were not criminal, and that the women lived college lives full of "rampant sex, drug use, and endless drinking." One of Goldstein's accusers, he said, had previously had rough sex with Goldstein and used him as her "sex boy."
"We know in the real world, 'no, no' has many shades of gray," said de Marco.
Goldstein did not take the stand during trial. The courtroom was packed with his relatives and supporters, three of whom testified on his behalf as character witnesses.
Temple suspended Goldstein's fraternity in April 2018, after the freshman reported her allegations to police.
Goldstein was arrested in May 2018 and charged with the attempted assault against the freshman. The other woman reported her allegations to police after that set of charges had been in the news.
Minutes after the verdict was read _ and after Goldstein had been handcuffed and taken to jail _ his defense lawyer stood outside the Stout Center for Criminal Justice and took aim at the case against his client, which he called an effort "to change human nature."
People are "all the same as we were since Adam and Eve," de Marco said, adding that the case against his client would not have been considered criminal in previous decades.
And although he said he was not blaming Goldstein's accusers for what happened to them, he said each had put themselves in "a compromising position" during separate encounters at the frat house two years ago.
"The way everybody looks at these cases ... they always talk about the responsibilities of the man, but never the responsibility of the victim to not put yourself in a dangerous position," de Marco said. " ... You just have to look at your common sense, and with freedom _ sexual freedom among women _ comes a responsibility to exercise it wisely. And that did not happen in either one of these cases."
De Marco repeated an argument he made at trial as he sought to convince jurors that Goldstein had not abused his accusers, saying the women's college experience included alcohol, drugs, sex and partying and that they had attempted to make "something out of nothing."
That stance drew a sharp rebuke from Wynkoop, the prosecutor, who said after the verdict that the two women had simply been "living their lives as young college-aged students."
"Going to a fraternity party should not be a dangerous situation," he said. "Going dancing with your friends should not be a dangerous situation. Being a college-aged student should not be a dangerous situation. And to say that what they did was wrong is jaw-dropping."
