Jury convicts man from Tarentum of sexually abusing a child

The defense attorney explained to the jury that the prosecution's arguments were so full of reasonable doubt that she had to acquit her client of the charge of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl.

But the prosecutor said this argument was merely an attempt to distract from a fundamental truth: “The defendant, Brian Jefferies, likes children. He is attracted to them.”

The jury was apparently convinced by the latter argument on Monday.

They convicted 27-year-old Jefferies of Tarentum on all counts of multiple sexual assaults of the victim.

The jury reached its verdict in the afternoon, about an hour after retiring to deliberate.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos will sentence Jefferies on December 12. He faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Jefferies was immediately taken into custody and is being held in the Allegheny County Jail pending sentencing.

His trial before a jury of seven women and five men began last week. He is accused of aggravated sexual assault of a child, unlawful contact and related charges in connection with a series of incidents over the last year.

It also included statements from the now eight-year-old victim and the defendant, who all denied having attacked the child.

Allegheny County Police charged Jefferies on April 28, 2023, after the victim disclosed the abuse to a family member and a teacher.

He was later charged with rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse in an unrelated case 10 years ago. The case involved another alleged victim who was a minor at the time. A jury trial is planned for that case but has not yet been scheduled.

In her closing argument on Monday, Jefferies' attorney, Carissa Davenport, told the jury that the victim had lied.

“This case is all about secrets,” Davenport said. “Secrets and lies and desperation.”

She pointed out inconsistencies in the prosecution's argument, including the victim's testimony that Jefferies had videotaped her, even though no evidence to support this was presented to the jury and no video was found on his cellphone.

“The story didn’t make sense,” Davenport said.

The defense also complained about the lack of evidence and criticized the prosecution for failing to call in doctors to examine the victim.

“The government is not interested in the truth. It is interested in a conviction,” Davenport said.

She urged the jury to make it clear to the prosecution that their arguments were insufficient.

“The law doesn’t say you have to believe this child.”

But in her closing argument on Monday, Deputy District Attorney Lisa Carey slammed the defense, accusing them of trying to distract the jury from the truth.

“You hear what [the victim] “Report on April 21, 2023 and compare it to what you heard with your own eyes and ears,” Carey said last week of the victim’s statement.

She asked the jury to look at the victim's forensic interview in which he described the assault.

“Adults can come up with pretty complex lies,” Carey said. “I would tell you, six-year-olds can't do that.”