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MAYVILLE, NY (WNY News Now) — The case prosecuting a Chautauqua County man for allegedly raping and sexually abusing children has adjourned for the day.
Jury deliberations started at 2 p.m. Thursday in the case against 27-year-old Dustin Post, who faces nine counts of varying child sex crimes connected to accusations from five different children from 2015 to 2019.
The jury met for most of the afternoon, following a morning of closing arguments from the prosecution and defense.
During deliberations, the Jury revisited testimony of a six-year-old victim who alleged Post sexually assaulted her during an August 2018 birthday party.
Last Thursday, the child testified that Post played the “sucker game” where he blindfolded her while filming the encounter.
Jurors also examined the child’s testimony about how male genitals ended up on her phone, which were discovered a year after the alleged abuse took place and Post’s interview with New York State Police where he was questioned about the allegation.
During the interrogation, Post admitted to detectives he committed the sexual acts. He also turned over video of the incident.
In closing arguments hours before, Post’s Attorney, Chautauqua County Public Defender Ned Barone, highlighted the role of the six-year-old victim’s mother who barely knew Post, but let her child go with him to the “party” alone. The mother testified that she didn’t even know where in Silver Creek her daughter was at the time of the gathering.
In a last word before deliberating, prosecutors doubled down on the amount of evidence laid out over the course of this trial. While alone each is just a piece of the puzzle, DA Jason Schmidt argued that together, from interviews with police to video recordings of the sexual assaults allegedly captured by Post, a burden of proof was achieved.
Within his right, Post did not testify during the trial. He was previously convicted in a federal child pornography case last winter and sentenced to 50-years in prison.
Court resumes Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the County Courthouse in Mayville.
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