Dad found guilty of child sexual abuse against daughter (Anchorage, Alaska)

Dad SAMMY COHEN has been found guilty of sexually abusing his daughter. The fact that dad had possession of pornographic photos on his computer of his then 14-year-old daughter basically clinched the case.

Hat tip to my good Alaska friend for finding this.

Ex-cop Cohen guilty of child sexual abuse
DAUGHTER: Juror calls nude photos of Cohen's 14-year-old "proof."

By DEBRA McKINNEY
dmckinney@adn.com

Published: October 29th, 2009 02:39 PM
Last Modified: October 30th, 2009 07:32 AM

Sammy Cohen sat, stoic, Thursday afternoon beside defense attorney John Cashion as he listened to the word "guilty" come from the jury box 16 times.

The Anchorage Superior Court jury convicted the former city police officer on charges that included second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, child exploitation and possessing child pornography, all of which involved his then-14-year-old daughter.

Cohen, 55, was an 11-year veteran of the Anchorage Police Department and was teaching at the police academy when he was arrested in 2005. His first trial last year ended in a mistrial practically before it began, before the jury heard any testimony, after the victim, who couldn't be located beforehand, showed up at the last minute.

For this one, jurors listened to testimony for more than three weeks on the total of 21 charges. After five days of deliberation, they couldn't reach a decision on three of 10 sex-abuse charges and found Cohen not guilty of a fourth.

They also found him not guilty of one of six counts of possessing child pornography. While the rest involved topless and naked photographs of his daughter, this one was of an unknown child and was by far the most graphic. It was found on a Zip drive, which the defense said he'd bought used online and didn't even know the image was there.

The three abuse charges resulting in a hung jury and the other not-guilty verdict involved touching and groping claims, including one that Cohen held one of his daughter's breasts while she did topless pull-ups because he wanted to feel her muscles work.

"There was reasonable doubt" on those four counts, juror Sandy Knipmeyer said outside the courtroom after being released from duty. "The first charges had everything to do with just (the daughter's) testimony, and I'll tell ya, everybody's sort of telling the truth and everybody's sort of lying, and 10 years have passed ... and just taking (her) word was tough for the people that went that way. It was definitely split.

"Cohen was part of a very dysfunctional family, in our opinion. There was so much to take in, and just (his daughter's) word was not enough."

The topless and nude computer photos found in his possession were a different story.

"The computer ... spoke for itself, and that's where a lot of those guilties came in," Knipmeyer said. "The computer stuff became sort of a solid one for us because of computer evidence. Proof helps."

The jury of three women and nine men began deliberations late on Oct. 22. In delivering Thursday's verdicts, the panel was missing one juror, who had been kicked off for using an electronic dictionary in the deliberation room to look up the word "touching." Jurors are given specific instructions forbidding them from doing independent research on a case.

Other than that, Knipmeyer said, they all worked really well together. And they worked hard.

"Even our bailiff said, 'It seems like you guys processed for a long time.' "

"What you don't realize when you're reading the newspaper and you're like, 'Fry 'em' ... is it's someone's life and it's real. It's overwhelming and it makes me emotional.

"And you know, think I made the very best educated decision I could make with 11 other people."

After the verdict, Cohen, who continues to be out on bail, left the courthouse accompanied by his attorney. Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton set sentencing for Feb. 5.