28-year-old Hunter Ingram of Mount Carmel has been found not guilty of one count of criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse stemming from an alleged incident in November 2024.
It took the Wabash County jury about two hours and twenty minutes to clear Ingram of the charges.
When court resumed Friday morning, Wabash County State's Attorney Kelli Storckman formally rested the prosecution's case. Defense attorney Roger White then rested the defense without calling Ingram to testify or presenting any witnesses or additional evidence.
During closing arguments, White spent approximately an hour and 15 minutes urging jurors to find his client not guilty. He argued the prosecution's case was based largely on circumstantial evidence and claimed there were too many inconsistencies in witness testimony for jurors to find Ingram guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Storckman, in her closing argument, walked jurors through the evidence presented during the three-day trial. She argued the DNA evidence, physical evidence recovered from the scene, and witness testimony, when considered together, overwhelmingly supported the charges and were more than sufficient to return guilty verdicts.
Judge William C. Hudson then instructed the jury on the law before sending the panel to begin deliberations at 2:43pm.