Court officer fired over alleged comments to jurors leading to tossed verdict in sexual assault case

A court officer has been fired over comments he reportedly made to jurors that prompted a judge to throw out a guilty verdict in a sexual assault case.

Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer said Thursday that Cpl. Mark Belisle, who had been suspended pending the results of an investigation, was terminated from the sheriff’s department on April 19.

Palmer said Barre City Police Chief Brad Vail conducted the probe into Belisle’s conduct during the trial.

Belisle, reached Friday, said he was pursuing “options” that might be available to appeal Palmer’s decision.

“Not all the facts are out there I don’t believe,” he said. Asked to elaborate, Belisle replied, “I don’t want to say too much. It depends on what we’re going to do here.”

The Vermont Standard first reported Thursday that Belisle no longer worked for the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department.

A jury sitting in Washington County Superior criminal court returned the guilty verdict against Kasey Giorgio, 31, of Barre, on a sexual assault charge in late February following a two-day trial.

Judge John Pacht threw out the conviction in March. In his ruling, he wrote that a juror called the court a little more than a week after the jury verdict and spoke to the court operations manager, reporting that the court officer in charge of the jury had made a comment that “troubled” her.

“The juror said that the officer informed members of the jury that Mr. Giorgio was incarcerated,” Pacht wrote. “This prompted a response by at least one juror regarding repeat offenders. She also said, according to the Court Operations Manager, that the officer informed members of the jury that he would always believe a police officer.”

Palmer, the Windsor County sheriff, had placed Belisle on paid administrative leave immediately after the allegations against him had been raised.

Palmer declined to release documents related to Vail’s probe or its findings, adding he would need time to research what information he could legally release to the public.

“We take jury deliberations incredibly seriously,” Palmer said Thursday. “We’re aware of the situation this has caused for the state and the defense and the need for accountability. That’s why we used an external investigator and pushed forward with the decisions we did.”

Palmer said he also understands the need for jury deliberations to be conducted in a fair and impartial manner.

“It was a screw up on our end as an organization and we’re trying to hold ourselves and our employees accountable,” he added.

Washington County State’s Attorney Michelle Donnelly said Friday that she is continuing to pursue the criminal case against Giorgio.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Court officer fired over alleged comments to jurors leading to tossed verdict in sexual assault case .