A Canadian man had his name cleared Monday when a jury found him not guilty of sexually assaulting a woman who had accused him of raping her after the two left an Uptown Minneapolis bar together last year.
Sam Prpich leaned his head down in relief as his attorney placed his hands on his shoulders to congratulate him when the verdicts were read in a Ramsey County District courtroom.
The jury found the 26-year-old not guilty of both the first and third-degree criminal sexual conduct counts filed against him a few months after the alleged incident occurred on Nov. 13, 2016.
Prpich was accused of raping a woman whom friends introduced him to at an Uptown Minneapolis bar that day.
The two left in a cab together to go back to his St. Paul apartment, where they engaged in consensual sex.
At some point during their encounter, the woman said Prpich pinned her down and forced her to briefly engage in a sexual act that was not consensual.
Prpich testified that his actions were accidental, caused by a dark room and alcohol.
His defense attorney, Brian Karalus, told the jury that the woman’s version of the events was dubious because she admitted to drinking about 10 alcoholic beverages before she and Prpich went back to his apartment.
He said there were several other holes in her narrative that didn’t make sense, reminding the jury that as the defendant, it was not Prpich’s job to prove why the woman might have lied about what happened.
The verdicts came as a “huge relief,” for his client, Karalus said, adding that both he and his family had spent the past year under great distress about the case.
Prpich moved back to Canada, where he is originally from, after the charges. Several of his family members flew in to attend his trial.
“He knew he was innocent and he wanted to clear his name,” Karalus said of Prpich.
“It’s absurd that someone, a stranger, can drink that much alcohol and make an allegation like that,” Karalus continued. “I think this trial … is a warning to parents that even if you have a son you need to worry about sending (them) to college… They need to be just as concerned as the women do when it comes to alcohol and sex because there are a lot of false allegations.”
His accuser, who was 22 at the time, was among those who testified at trial.
State prosecutors told the jury how difficult that is for victims to do and urged them to consider her sincerity and credibility.
The prosecution also pointed to statements Prpich made shortly after the incident, such as “I ruined your life and I ruined my life,” as indications of his guilt.
His defense attorney disputed that, telling the jury that those were just the terrified words of a young, innocent man who was suddenly being accused of rape by a woman he just met.
He added that his client passed a polygraph about what happened but said such findings are not admissible at trial.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office declined to comment about the verdict.